Them Boots." By William Gilbert. (Daldy and Isbister.)—Mrs. Rigton, a
ticket-of-leave woman, steals a pair of boots. These boots act the part of an evil genius throughout the story. As the author gives us no rationalising explanation of their action, we may suppose that they constitute what we may call the " fairy " element in the tale, and that their artistic purpose is to relieve with a kind of grim and not inappropriate humour the dismal atmosphere into which the reader is introduced. Mr. GilbertS purpose is to give a study of the character si the female criminal, with its strange inconsistencies, its fitful, gusty temper; and he has also in view the object of preaching a homily against gin, " original sin," as one of the women in the story persists in calling It, not without truth, though much to the horror of the theological orthodoxy of the lady Superior and the chaplain. Altogether the book makes a very striking picture, drawn by a hand which is familiar with its subjeot, and knows how to paint it effectively.
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