The Garret and the Garden, and Jeff Benson. By R.
M. Ballantyne. (Nisbet.)—In neither of the two stories which compose this volume is Mr. Ballantyne quite up to his usual mark, although in themselves both are, in point of incident and of unobtrusive moral teaching, much above the gift-book average. In the first and more ambitious of the two, he seems to deal with phases of London life with which he is not specially familiar,—with the world of thieves and gamins, and good humble people trembling on the verge of pauperism ; while the herculean Scotchman who appears on the scene is too much of a caricature, too much of the Scotchman that would be introduced into a harlequinade for the express purpose of making an English gallery laugh. In "Jeff Benson," again, the adven- turous element is subordinated too much to the moral teaching, and to the advocacy of such undoubtedly valuable institutions as swimming-baths. Susie in the one story, and Rosebud in the other, however, are girls of the bright, innocent type that Mr. Ballantyne delights and succeeds in sketching.
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