20 JULY 1889, Page 24

following quotation from Goethe :—" A novel is a subjective

epopee, wherein the author begs permission to treat the world after his fashion : the question therefore is, has he a fashion ? the rest will attend to itself." We suppose it must be admitted that Mr. Gillan Vase has a fashion, and a vulgar, absurd, and dis- agreeable fashion it is. The story is told in autobiographical form, and it begins with a description of an amorous contest between the hero's father and the footman for the favours of a wanton lady's-maid. From this unsavoury low-comedy the author deviates into melodramatic but wholly unexciting sensationalism , and the "subjective epopee" moves on through three volumes of ever-accumulating absurdity. We need hardly add that the book is worthless.