13 OCTOBER 1894, Page 13

Greetings in the Market. By John F. Crump. (Simpkin, Marshall,

and Co.)—These social sketches are readable, some more than others ; perhaps the best is that entitled " Here, or Nowhere," a protest against the restlessness and dislike of people to settle down in this age of railways. But Mr. Crump writes in somewhat too serious a vein ; social sketches to catch the ordinary reader, to bite the plate of his fancy, must be exceedingly well written, without a single unnecessary sentence or a weak one, playful at times, and again strong and vigorous when cir- cumstances require it. Still some readers may peruse Greetings in the Market with advantage, if without discovering any original or striking phrase.