An Isle in the Water. By Katharine Tynan (Mrs. H.
A. Hinkson). (A.. and C. Black.)—The " isle " is an Irish island, with inhabitants of a marked character, which Mrs. Hinkson has studied with a keen and affectionate interest. Her sketches are touched for the most part with a sombre colour ; the first has an element of the preternatural in it, nor is it easy to see how it has come to occupy its place. It might suit any place, and indeed the peculiar revenant which it describes is a familiar figure in many stories. Then we have at the end of the volume some studies of life that are of a personal kind,—the "Changing of the Nurseries " among them, an experience all the more pathetic because it is so common. Of the chapters that more peculiarly belong to the " isle," the finest is the " Story of Father Anthony O'Toole," a priest of the old school, before the peasant clergy of Biaynooth had come upon the scene. But all have a certain power in them.
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