Tastes and Habits, Personal and Social, with other Essays. By
Samuel B. James, M.A. (Hodder and Stoughton.)—We looked into this volume with some interest, because we happened to know that the author had lately lit up a considerable blaze by a paper in the Parish Magazine, which circulates (1-4).?.,:, OVolueinsa (.4 oppii 144 in many places throughout England. The said paper hinted pretty broadly, though not without a disclaimer of the meaning, that a Dissenting chapel was the "devil's chapoL" We were, shall we say, disappointed? There is nothing here to set anything on fire. Mr. James likes a little hit at a bishop, quite a natural thing in a vicar. He rakes some sensible remarks on the novels in so-called religious publications. If people think it right that their children shall read " Ivanhoe " on a Sunday— very good, we shall not quarrel with them ; but if they think reading "Ivanhoe" a sin, why do they put into the young people's hands tales which to the naked oyo are quite indistinguishable from the ordinary novels, simply because they come out in monthly parts, together with other miscellanea, between brown or blue paper covers? He trios, not very successfully, to settle the difficult question of the morality of "Not at home." (Might we suggest that as "At home" on a card means that you are ready to see your friends at a certain time, so "Not at home " on the lips of a servant may well mean that you are not ready to see them ?) Generally be is sensible ; occasionally, but it might with ad- vantage be oftener, he is amusing. Essays of this kind are very diffi- cult to write, and Mr. James has yet something to learn.
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