3 OCTOBER 1896, Page 24

The Cleekins Inn. By James C. Dibdin. (A. Constable and

Co.)—The subject of the story is sufficiently indicated by its sub-title," A Tale of Smuggling in the '45." There are smugglers in it, and there are Jacobites. The hero, who is a very sorry creature, does business in both lines, and makes in both some- thing of a failure. The whole is confused, the plot but indif- f erently constructed and worked out, and the characters wanting in interest. Another time Mr. Dibdin, with two subjects before him, should write about either one, but not about both.