10 DECEMBER 1887, Page 13

My Friend and My Enemy. By Paul Blake. (Griffith, Ferran,

and Co.)—The small boy who figures as the hero in the above romance certainly sees more of his enemy than is pleasant. His friend, we may say, hoe incurred the batted of "Black Joe," who turns up at every conceivable opportunity, and being a Malay, naturally tries to pat a knife into him. Surely this creature is too ubiquitous, and the coincidences recklessly defiant of the theory of chances. The story, though possessing interest in some parts, is hardly up to the mark of some of the writer's previous tales.