If I Were King. By Justin Huntly McCarthy. (W. Heine-
mania. 6s.)—Mr. McCarthy has made a tale out of his play, and it is a good tale. That it might have been better can hardly be doubted. One improvement, in our judgment, would have been to suppress, or at least put into the background, the loose women who figure in the story. The stage has always displayed these characters ; nowadays it displays little else ; but must they occupy fiction also ? The main incident of the story, it will be remembered, is that Villon, the poet, becomes, by the pleasure of King Louis XL, Grand Constable for a week and bears himself very nobly. We do not exactly see what the King was after ; but his craft or his caprice gives occasion for a stirring little drama. There is some excellent verse scattered up and down the book. Mr. McCarthy has experimented boldly, and has succeeded.
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