Three Diggers : a Tale of the Australian 'Fifties. By
Percy Clarke, LL.D. (Sampson Low and Co.)—Mr. Clarke has some- thing to say, events and adventures quorum pars flat, as we suppose. The mistake that he has made is a want of compression.
The opening conversation, for instance, between Dr. O'Donnoghue, Jack Wainwright, and Coates, is given at a length which can
hardly fail to deter some readers from venturing any further. At the beginning of a story, more than anywhere else, some briskness of movement and some effective situation are wanted. But readers who are not so discouraged from persevering will find some reward for their trouble. —No such fault as prolixity can be fairly charged against another book which takes Australian life for its subject, A Sydney Sovereign, and other Tales, by" Tasma " (Triibner.) The tales are five in number, that which gives a name to the volume occupying a little more than half of it. It is a vigorous and effective piece of work, a description which is, indeed, applicable to all. There are faults in them. " Tasma " is sometimes too intent on being humorous, and in his anxiety loses sight of good taste. The tragedy of " Barrus Lane" is altogether out of keeping with a would-be funny passage (pp. 156-57) about the moistness of everything in a ship.
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