24 NOVEMBER 1888, Page 25

Francis and Frances. (J. W. Arrowsmith.)—The author calls his tale

. an " inexplainable phenomenon," and certainly he does not make the slightest attempt to explain the mystery he relates. Perhaps it is well, for anything more hopelessly impossible we never read. Not even the most vivid imagination could account for a young lady turning into a young gentleman, and vice verse', at stated hours. But if this difficulty could be overcome, there is yet another. The clothes change too. The story is amusing in parts. Interesting situations are naturally not wanting when such a state of things exists. The idea is grotesquely absurd.