6 JUNE 1896, Page 26

The Great Galcoito : Folly or SainttinessY From the Spanish

of Jose Echegaray. By Hannah Lynch. (John Lane.)—Miss Lynch laments that the Spanish dramatist lacks the "humorous de- pravity" of the French play-writers, and has "no understanding of vice except as a subject of castigation." Her own view ie, it would seem, quite different, for she thinks that Spanish husbands, at least in these dramas, are so solemn that there is " small blame to the ladies of such lords if they sometimes forget their oath of allegiance." All this is a little surprising. The reader may possibly find Seim Echegaray a trifle dull, but he can hardly fail to experience some sensation, if it is only of disgust, from Miss Lynch's preface.