24 NOVEMBER 1888, Page 25

A Garden of Tares. By John Hill and Clement Hopkins.

(Vizetelly and Co.)—There is a good deal of cleverness in this story, which deals largely with the Bohemian section of the literary and artistic world of London. Some of the character-sketches in the first chapter, for example, are decidedly good in their way ; but, unfortunately, it is a wrong way, because it interferes with the opening of the action, and irritates the reader more than it interests him. Workmanship of this kind is artistically bad, and it does much to spoil a book which, as we have said, is by no means wanting in ability, though we could wish that the atmosphere of some chapters were a little sweeter. Whatever may be said in praise of A Garden of Tares, it can hardly be called a pleasant book.