In Kings' Byways. By Stanley Weyman. (Smith, Elder, and Co.
6s.)—This volume is made up of short stories, commonly dis- appointing when they are thus brought together, but in this case so skilfully managed as to produce an effect of unity. The strange mixture of the frivolous and the tragic which is so characteristic of French history, and must represent something deeply seated in French nature, ' is admirably described. In "Fiore," for instance, what interests hang on the question whether the Queen will get back her own pet dog or only one like it ! This is the thing that determines the fate of statesmen. Perhaps the best story is that in which the key to the mystery is the "fire of box- wood," though that which immediately precedes it runs it close. 'What a curious mare's-nest does the " Statesman " find when he discovers a plot for the killing of the "King" and the "Duke"!
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