Oak, edge: an Old-Time Story. By J. Emerson Smith. (Boston,
U.S.: Osgood. London : Triibner.)—Why this ehould ho called "an old-time story we cannot see, except it be that everything that goes back as far as the last century is "old-time "beyond the Atlantic, or that the de- scription is meant to excuse certain improbabilities. A young gentle- man finds a most amiable and delightful recluse, an old gentleman possessed of a modest competence, and an admirable collar of wine— this is the first time we ever hoard the praise of wine in an American tale of this type—who gives him the manuscript containing the story of his life. A strange story it is, but the strangeness is not very artis- tically introduced. We are meant to shudder at the mysterious doom which has settled on the unhappy man, but we do not get beyond [incredulity.
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