Reminiscences of Old Scots Folk. By T. Ratcliffe Barnett. (T.
N. Foulis. 5e. net.)—East Lothian is the home of the majority of these sketches, which remind one some- what of Beside the Bonnie Brier Bush. The scenes of several lie round the modern village kirk ; others recall the religious strife against which there is so strong a movement to-day. They are all, whether narrative or specu- lative, entirely Scottish, and the language, too, is not the English. Not only in the conversations, as with Scott or Stevenson, but throughout the author holds to Scottish words and phrases, for Mr. Barnett thinks well to cling to a language which is disappearing from modern literature. We do not mean that it is anything but the good speech of the Lothians, but in modern print it gives the Sassenach the impression of straining for the sake of "local colour." The book is illustrated with small coloured reproductions of pictures by Mr. Gemmell Hutchison. These are not closely connected with the text, but are for the most part charac-
teristic scenes of cottage interiors. .
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