21 DECEMBER 1889, Page 24

Tales of a Tennis - Party. By Blancor Dash. (ICegan Paul, Trench,

and Co.)—These tales are supposed to be told by a soldier, a poet, a traveller, and one or two other members of a party assembled at sunset on the tennis-lawn of a country-house. They abound in graceful and pleasant lines, though, as a whole, they display more culture and care than fire and fancy. The best of them, in our judgment, is the Colonel's tale, a story in which the tragedy of life is described without a false or jarr:ng note. These " Tales " reach a higher level of literary expression than the majority of slim and dainty volumes of minor poetry which fall in our way.