An Editor off the Line. By Edward Miall. (Arthur Miall.)—This
book is an instance of the power of habit. During the last six months the author has had "a few odd intervals of leisure," an evening or two weekly, and the only way he could employ them apparently was to write essays on "Drizzle" and "Tradesmen's Carts," and" Mountain Scenery," and "Dusty Roads." Of course, as an editor it never entered into his bead that what he wrote was to go unpublished, so here we have a handsomely-printed volume of essays which are about up to the mark of The Leisure Hour, but quite unworthy of the abilities of their anther. He has no humour, and has apparently been too much engaged in contro- versy to have leisure for observation. About London suburbs, or fancy neighbourhoods, as he calls them, or tradesmen's carts, he has nothing in the world to say that has not occurred to every one a hundred times, but has never before seemed worth printing. On more important topics he almost always degenerates into a sermon, putting his text at the end instead of the beginning. The best essay is "Our Tom," an account of a pet cat. We do protest against the practice, now becoming almost universal, which makes really able writers fancy that because they can sell anything they are at liberty to publish anything. A book which would be entitled to kindly mention if it were the work of a young or obscure writer, should not be tolerated from a veteran in literature. These essays are not worthy of Mr. Mien.
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