An Exile in Bohemia. By Ernest E. Williams. (Greening and
Co. 6s.)—Cyril Boyton, the hero of Mr. Williams's novel, found " the beautiful city of Prague" anything but a cheerful place to live in. The idea of the book is decidedly good. The virtuous and enthusiastic young man who takes to Bohemia, not from any desire for dissipation, but through aspirations towards Demo- cratic Socialism, is an attractive figure. The result of the experiment is the same as the fate which overtook the boy in the fairy story when caught by the fairies and conducted to their land of fancy. The malicious little beings rubbed his eyes with the ointment of truth, and he saw fairyland crumble at his feet, —the garlands turned to cobwebs, the light to darkness, and, worse than all, the fairies to little wizened monsters. Just so is Cyril Boyton disillusioned by the wrong side of the tapestry of "Bohemia." However, after his repentance, "the fatted calf" takes the form of a weekly newspaper bought for him by a rich uncle, and in that throne of respectable bliss, the editorial chair, the reader is content to leave him.
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