Good Words. Edited by Donald Macleod. (Isbister and Co.)— At
one time Good Words was the serious magazine, but of late years it was said that it was no longer the Good Words we used to know, with probably as little justice as there is in most disparaging remarks on old favourites. It has always been dependent on a good novel not less than on some good sermons and miscellaneous articles. Mr. Baring-Gould has a story entitled " Kitty Alone," and we think readers will find that their interest is held from first to last in this Devonshire romance with its vivid local colour. Then there are some shorter serials by W. E. Norris, L. B. Walford, Clark Russell, Eden Phillpotte, and Bret Harte. Biographical and memorial notices cover a wide range, to wit, Dean Stanley, Mr. W. H. Smith, Charles Gonnod, and Lewis Grant, the young Scotch poet. Besides these there are five papers on five great astrono- mers. Travel in many places is illustrated copiously, and includes such widely separated spots as Barbados, the Hartz mountains and its towns, Bessin and the Bocage, Samarcand, and British Columbia with its salmon-canning. In our own country the description of such famous places as Wilton House, the Camelot of romance, and Totnes, will attract many; and but little further off, Parisian waterways and catacombs make some most interest- ing reading. The "Sunday Readings" furnish some excellent material for thought and study, such names as the Bishop of Winchester and Page Roberts are sufficient guarantee of their goodness. Among the historical, social, and miscellaneous papers we may mention " The Early Years of the French Navy," " Ruskin Mania,"—a most sensible article—" Dockers' Restaurants," " A Stundist's Paper," " Mudie's Library," while there are several smaller but equally readable pieces. The illustrations are certainly excellent all through, and Mr. Baring-Gould is fortunate in being illustrated by thirty-six drawings by Gordon Browne, which are as good and to the point as such illustrations generally are feeble and inaccurate.
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