The Dumpling. By Coulson Kernahan. (Cassell and Co. 6s.)— The
Dumpling is an excellent melodrama. It cannot be said to be anything more serious, for the Socialistic preaching in it is the work of a madman. Mr. Coulson Kernahan, however, would have been better advised, as a question of taste, if he:had refrained from causing the King to appear as one of his dramatis personae. Even if he could not resist the temptation of introducing his Majesty, it would have been exceedingly easy to refrain from giving verbatim accounts of a Royal conversation, and the end of the book would not have suffered. The reader of the story is hurled from adventure to adventure in a breathless manner, but it must be confessed that the interest is well kept up and does not flag. The book is quite incredible and unconvincing; but that does not really matter in a novel of this kind, which has no claim to be treated as of serious interest, and is merely a six-shilling 4' shocker."
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