Mr. Sprouts : his Opinions. By Richard Whiteing. (Hotten.)—The comedy
of bad spelling is no longer very new, and unless it is done well it is very stupid. This is one objection to the book before us, some of the contents of which are rather good. The idea of a costermonger paying a visit to Belgrave Square in the disguise of a gentleman, after the manner of the gentleman who paid a visit to the workhouse in the disguise of a casual, affords some fun, especially when the " amateur swell " suggests a public meeting in order to "purvido the poor things [of Belgravia] with a Christian meal of wittles, and make their miser- able lives more comfortabler and 'appy." Indeed, many of the papers in the book are clever enough, though there is a good deal of sameness about them when read at one sitting. The best paper of all, painful as it is to read, is the one on "Prize Fighting." Perhaps the spelling hero is appropriate, as we are the more startled by such obvious morality having to bo presented to us in the garb of uncultured rude- ness. The same thing may have been said a hundred times before in good English, and no one has heeded it. The manly feeling engendered by the Prize Ring has been preached up by some who did not know that this glorious institution subsisted for the benefit of betting men and sporting publicans. There are able writers and highly educated men who might learn of the costormonger.
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