Reflections of a Householder. By E. H. Lacon Watson. (S.
C. Brown, Langham, and Co. 3s. 6d.)—Mr. Lacon Watson has unquestionably acquired the art of the essayist, and there is scarcely anything in literature so hard to come by. It is too delicate and subtle a thing to analyse, and a critic can do little more than say that it has been acquired, or that it has not. If one quotes anything that may happen to please, as when the " House- holder" remarks that it is a bad sign when Phyllis—Phyllis is his wife, the object of some gentle fun—" thoughtfully strokes his hair," or says that "the common fault of English coffee-making is not putting in enough coffee," the quotation is apt to lose something of its charm. It is the whole that pleases, and we cannot quote a whole essay. If any one desires to try the quality of Mr. Watson's work, let him read "The History of a Crime." It is not after De Quincey and "Murder a Fine Art." It is the story of how a novel was written. "Our fortunes would be made if we could only sink all thoughts of art and produce a pieco of thoroughly bad work." So spoke the tempter ; the author listened, and the " crime " was the result.
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