An Antarctic Mystery. By Jules Verne. (Sampson Low, Marston, and
Co.)—It is not a bad idea for an author who finds his imagination growing exhausted—or shall we say weary ?—to take a romance and build another romance upon it. Nor would it be easy to find a more suitable author for this purpose than Edgar Poe. You take one of his stories—the more extravagant and improbable the better—and assert that it is all true. A mysterious personage who appears in your tale turns out to be one of the chief actors in the old story. More marvels and adven- tures are piled on the first foundation ; the author is saved trouble ; the reader is very probably pleased. M. Jules Verne is always aware of what will suit the taste of the day. Just now it is Antarctic enterprise, which the parsimony—or shall we say common-sense ?—of the Government declines and private liberality takes up. Whatever comes from this well-practised pen is sure to be good, but it has done better work than this.
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