12 OCTOBER 1889, page 45

The Spell Of Ashtaroth. By Duffield Osborne. (sampson Low...

Co.)—The theme which the writer has taken is certainly one to attract both writer and reader. It is the storming of Jericho, and a young Israelite of the tribe of Judah falls in......

Songs Of A Parish Priest. By Rev. B. Edwards. (george

Allen, Orpington, Kent.)—Mr. Edwards shows in these songs, or rather hymns, a truly devotional spirit and fervour. He possesses, indeed, the qualities which a hymn-writer......

What Incoherent. We Would Say That Before A Metaphor Can

be allowed to pass, it must be natural. If artificial, it must be a very skilful one ; we commend this homely piece of advice to Mr. Hall. Occasionally we find some difficulty......

Lost Chords. By W. Moore. (parker And Co.)—" Sulamith "

does not seem to us a happy lyrical rendering of Solomon's Song. This is, however, in Canto vi. a graceful and flowing chorus, a very happy effort. Mr. Moore's sonnets are much......

Literary Workers. By J. G. Hargreaves, M.a. (longmans And...

Hargreaves has really given us a very delightful book ; one of those books which can be read straight through, or dipped into, at the reader's pleasure. It is a series of......

Heathcote. By Ella Macmahon. 2 Vols. (ward And Downey.)— We

have not much to say about Heathcote; it is very uninteresting, and preserves a dull commonplace level all through. The troubles of the young lady who breaks off her engagement......

Historical Records Of The 6th Dragoon Guards, Or...

Captain A. Spoot. (Gale and Polden.)—The history of the regi- ment from 1685 to 1839 having appeared in the latter year, Captain Spoot gives only a summary of it, and continues......

The Eyes Of The Thames. By A. T. Peek. (ward

and Downey.) —Mr. Peak has observant eyes and a certain command of lan- guage wherewith to express himself, and makes many a shrewd remark. The title of his volume, indeed, is......

Virginia, And Other Poems. By A. F. Cross. (swan...

—The poem which gives its name to the book, a lover's story, is a vigorous and very real one, and well expresses that sort of hostility to anything and everything common to the......

My Life And Balloon Experiences. By Henry Coxwell. Second...

(W. H. Allen and Co.)—Mr. Coxwell's experiences are possessed of an interest of which even a bare recital is unable to deprive them. It cannot, indeed, be said that he in any......

Fifty Sonnets. By C. E. Tyner. (kegan Paul And Co.)—we

look, we confess, somewhat askance on a writer who gives us in a lump fifty sonnets. They are few who can write sonnets, a truth which is sometimes painfully apparent in Mr.......

The Twelve Years' Reign Of Abdul Hamid Ii. By The

Princess Annie de Lusignan. (S. Low and Co.)—It seems to us that the writer has been somewhat too close an onlooker to see much of the fun, or at least to appraise it at its......

Anstruther's Wife. By Josephine Michell. (roper And...

of Anstruther's Wife is a well-worn one, and is be- coming too familiar. Hence, as no exceptional power is shown in treating it, we cannot describe the story as a success.......

The Englishman Of The Rue Cain. By H. F. Wood.

(Chatto and Windus.)—The opening chapters of this story point to a mystery that promises to fascinate every one. The death of the Englishman of the Rue Cain seems one of those......

Gibraltar. By H. M. Field. (chapman And Hall.)—mr. Field...

a visit to Gibraltar, and fell in love with the place at once. One fault only could he find,—it was too noisy ; but, as he explains, he did not stay till the noisiest time, the......