3 NOVEMBER 1894, Page 11

Hercules and the Marionettes. By R. Murray Gilchrist. (Bliss, Sands,

and Foster.)—This is a pretty story, always gracefully written, and sometimes touching in its pathos, of how a lad, Hercules Vining by name, sets out on his way to the workhouse— called a "Bastille," a name by which every one seems to recog- nise it—but happily finds friends, who keep him out of it. Luke and his wife are charming old people; charming, too, are the brothers to whom the Marionettes belong, though we must own to not quite comprehending their social position or that of Miss Anastatia. After all, that does not make much difference in one's enjoyment of the story. The illustrations are an ornament to the tale.