30 AUGUST 1902, Page 25

Honey. By Helen Mathers. (Methuen and Co. Os.)—Miss Helen Mathers

always writes with a verve and " go " which make her readers forgive her much. But it must be confessed that her present book is not very satisfactory. The main motive is the separation of a young lady, who is intended to be of the Rosalind type, from a detestable fiddler to whom she has engaged herself. Other relations of this gentleman to women are described more minutely than is to our taste. The story is not particularly interesting, for the young lady's masquerade in her own woods dressed as a boy and wearing a red wig is neither very credible nor particularly entertaining. Altogether, we cannot think Miss Mathers at her best in this book, for at her best she is at any rate amusing.