Country Stories, Old and New, in Prose and Verse. By
Holme Lee. vols. (Smith and Elder.)—We prefer Holme Lee's prose to her verse. The latter is sweet, but somewhat weak, not better, in fact, than many another volume of verse which comes before us, and which sinks almost without notice into the great profound of oblivion. But not many of our writera can turn out a little tale in a more graceful fashion. All of those which she has collected here are pretty ; more than one of them might well have been expanded into something more ambitious. The first, " Polly's One Offer," is, perhaps, the best. Polly, with her frantic attempts to be dignified when she is meant to be loveable, is charming, and the story of how she wrecks her hopes, not finally, but for a season, by her- foolish whim, is told with no little humour and pathos. To a reader who wants volumes which he can take up at any time and be sure of some pleasant entertainment we can recommend "Country Stories."
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