Tales about Temperaments. By John Oliver Hobbes. (T. Fisher Unwin.
2s. 6d. net.)—These " tales about temperaments" consist of three stories and two short plays. One of the plays called " Repentance " is decidedly striking. The scene is laid in Spain in 1835. "John Oliver Hobbes" claims that it should be judged from a Spanish and historical standpoint. It strikes us, however, as essentially modern in sentiment, and not Spanish except in setting. The best of the stories is called " The Worm which God Prepared." It appeared seven years ago in Cosmopolis. The three principal characters are very real, and interest the reader from first to last. They consist of a somewhat déclassé aristocrat, his daughter, and her lover. The scene is laid at a watering-place. The father has broken all the conventions and keeps all the prejudices of his caste. His daughter Evelina, commonly called " Little rat" or "Billy boy," has thrown aside both. "John Oliver Hobbes" manages to make this little Bohemian very pleasing, though she has neither beauty nor any particularly good qualities. We quite understand why Lambert Montagu Montgomerie—a very poor artist and the son of a very rich grocer—fell violently in love with her. Montgomerie is a truly pathetic figure, with his bad health, his stupidity, his artistic temperament, and his good heart. The story is spoiled by a melodramatic ending. We are unable to grasp the application of the title.
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