1 JUNE 1889, Page 27

Captain Lobe. By John Law. (Hodder and Stoughton.)—Mr. Law surely

is a little pessimistic in his views. Doubtless the

subject which engages his pen inclines the mind to pessimism.

Yet is he not a little hard on his fellow-creatures when he writes, —" There is in every one of us a deeply seated love of cruelty for its own sake " ? Surely not in "every one." Some of us can honestly acquit ourselves of any leaning that way. The story is a vigorous picture of East-End life, viewed from the Salvation Army point of view,—for this is the Army in which Captain Lobe holds a commission.