Reviews.

surprising that his friend should not have found him in . This Madge , albeit tho nephew of the wealthy town clerk of Morton , is a cad , as the following ejaculations during his unlooked for journey will show . He has nearly slipped in his attempt to reach the top of the carriage" By Jove , I was nearly done for , thafc time . I wonder if I ever

shall get homo again . Here ' s a pretty go " our hero ejaculated . . . " Hollo , here's a tunnel . I suppose I must duck , " and down he bends .... " Nofc a tunnel after all , only a viaduct . I needn't havo ducked for that , unless to learn tho via . That's a pun , by tho way . " . . . Further on , in passing through a tunnel , he " ducks , " but his stick

is smashed , and wo read"' Confonnd it , ' the young gentleman says , as ho observes this , ' got smashed because I stuck it upright in that pepper castor . Let ' s see what the height of the thing would be beside me . By Jove , only half an inch difference between ns . So ! I suppose if I had not seen the tunnel , and bobbed down in time , my head would havo been

smashed . Hang it all , I am getting tired of this lark . I wonder how long it's going to last , and where the dickens I am going to . I'll try what a cigar will do . AVhat a fool I was nob to think of thafc before . Its confoundedly cold . '" The class of people to which this precious specimen of an Englishman belongs wonld have been in a state of tho most abject terror at their position , instead of uttering all this vulgar bravado . One more

excerpt , and we have done with this tale , which is rightly named "Hopelessly , " seeing thafc ifc is hopelessly , irretrievably bad . Mr . Madge goes to Killarney to recover his health after the fever consequent on his mad ride . A party of Irish gentlefolk take up their quarters at the same hotel , and Madge writes to his friend Ashbnrn , inter alia , " the Irish ladies are very nice , and May Edwardes is the most fascinating little piece of goods I ever met . So much for her . The old fellow "—an Irish baronet of

Charles I . ' s creation—was very jolly and agreeable . Bro . Holmes must have borrowed his ideas of English and Irish gentlefolk from the loafers who hang about the Customs' wharves . There is but one portion of the tale the truth of which we recognise , and that is where Madge remarks , " I ' m no great catch , and our family never were anybody , " and a little further on , "We are nobody , you know .

I doubt if I ever had a grandfather . " Bro . Holmes ought nofc to have made a hero of a nobody who is so intensely caddish . We have now brought our remarks on the Tales to a close , and we shall content ourselves with adding that , if the author ' s claims to literary distinction rest on such writings as these , he will do well to abandon all further connection with literature , except with periodicals such as

" Reynold ' s Miscellany " and the " Illustrated Police News . " It is only necessary ho should introduce somo blood and thunder , a due proportion of cursing and all kinds of blasphemy , with other equally un . savoury ingredients , and wo cannot picture to ourselves a class of writing thafc would bo more acceptable to thafc class of journal . " Hopelessly , irremediably vulgar" is the verdict we have arrived afc as to these stories .

The Poems are harmless in sentiment , and in this respect they havo tho advantage over tho Tales , which , as we havo shown , are not calculated ^ promote sentiment . Bufc it is a misnomer to call them Poems . They are , we admit , arranged in verses—the ordinary four line , alternately rhyming , sing-song stanza so familiar to students of Sternhold and Hopkins , and Dr . AVatts . They can onl y bo regarded as very ordinary proso in the garb of poetry . Lot us quote a ° stanza or two at random , from " Only a Christmas Rose . "

' This little minist ' ring angel who trod the path Of life and of duty in so pure a way , Shamed me ort myself , and thoughts of the aftermath Came to me , and shall stay by mo alway . " A little further on , and there occurs the followin g : —

Well now she has promised some day thafc is far away , If I will wait for her , she will be mine ; But father is old , and him she mnst still obey , Till the death angel comes in his own time . " And

again" ' Good bye , come and seo me once more ere you leave us , Father will gladly your friendship accept ; And when you come again , oh , do not grieve us ' : My poor little maiden said no more , bufc wept . " AVo have no manner of doubt there bo some who will regard tho poetic effusions in this volume with a certain amount of

admiration ; but , for all this , wc do nofc think that Tennyson , Swinburne , -Morris , and the other poots of the day need havo any fear that their laurels will be snatched from them b y Bro . Holmes . His half-dozen specimens of versification are unworth y of ranking with an inferior set of school verses . The "Masonic Papers " are still more disappointing . Finding nothing of merit in the "Tales" and "Poems "

we naturally _ looked forward to something worth reading in the Masonic portion of the volume . Surel y , thought we , one who has been a Craftsman for sixteen years , and ranks as a 30 ° man , will know how to deal with a simple Masonic paper or two . But no ! The three papers are merely sundry notes on the old Minute Books of British Union Lodge , No . 114 , Ipswich , A . D . 1762 , but the notes aro written '

so carelessly , there are so many needless digressions , so many repetitions—in short , the pa ;; ; s are written in a style so slovenly , that tho interest aroused in us by the events which are noted is lost in tho overwhelming sense of regret , that a man who is so utterly ignorant of the duties of a literary analyst shonld have ventured on such a task . The composition is disjointed , and the comments feeble ; in

short , even in so simple a matter as describing the contents of certain Minute Books , Bro . Holmes is found wanting . Had ho transcribed the contents and said nothing , he would have done better . Then we could have formed a judgment of our own . Now the original notes and the comments are so hopelessly jumbled together that we can ur .-l ; e uvthius whatever of them .

Reviews.

Ifc pains ns to write , as wo havo written , of ono who is , no doubt , a most excellent member of tho circle in which he moves ; bnt , as critics , resolved to fulfil our duty honestly , we have no option but to pronounce the Papers and Poems contained in this volume as beneath contempt . We have read the whole , in the hope we might find

something we could justly bestow a word of praise npon , but wo have found nothing . As the profits of the book are to bo devoted to a charitable purpose , we earnestly advise our readers to remit the price of the book—which is only half-a-crown—to the publishers , but we implore them under no circumstance to be silly enough to waste their time in reading it .

T 7 ie Moonraher . A Story of Australian Life . By Richard Bnmbledore . London : Remington and Co ., 5 , Aruudel-street , Strand , W . C . 1877 . AVE aro nofc favourably impressed with Mr . Dnmbledore ' s story . Ifc is faulty in construction . The several chapters during the first portion of the volume have but little to connect them together . Tho scene lies at Uphill , Baconshire , and the freaks of a young boy , who would have behaved better had he occasionally been punished , form the chief incidents of the story . In duo time , he and a well

conducted boy named Edward Ford are fitted out for Australia , being consigned to a former inhabitant of the ' villagfl , a Mr . Cameron , who is living and doing well in tho bush . The sequel may well be imagined . Young Ford makes his way in the world , and returns homo to soothe the declining years of his mother , while Jemmy Johnson , the unruly boy , falls a victim to his propensity for

ill-treating animals , is thrown from his horse against a tree , and killed in . stantaneously . The pith of the story might have been contained in an eight-page tract , or even the half of one . As it is , it is about tho dreariest reading imaginable . As for the connection between the title and the story , we see none whatever . It might have been

called Moonshine , or Sunshine , or by another name quite as appropriately . AVe do not know the cost of the " Moonraker , " bufc wo should bo sorry to lay out sixpence in purchasing ifc . Mr . Dumble . dore ' s attempt at writing must be set down as a signal and complete failure ; his book is words , and nothing more .

Correspondence

CORRESPONDENCE

We do not hold ourselves responsible for the opinions of < w Cor . respondents . We cannot undertake to return rejected communications . All Letters must bear the name and address of the Writer , not necessarily for publication , but as a guarantee of good faith .

THE BALLOT . To the Editor of THE FREEMASON ' S CHRONICLE . DEAR SIR AND BROTHER , —I presume that different Lodges have different modes of procedure in balloting for candidates j but I know of no law , written or unwritten , which could compel a AV . M . to exhibit the result of the ballot to the Lodge , for the authority of the Masteris absolute . I find , however , in Oliver ' s Masonic Jurisprudence a

statement to the effect that a clause was formerly introduced in tho bye-laws of Lodges which provided that " when any brother is pro . posed to become a member , or any person to be made a Mason , if ifc appear , upon casting up the ballot , that he is rejected , no member or visiting Brother shall discover , by any means ivhatcver , who those persons were that opposed his election , under the penalty of being for

ever expelled the Lodge , if a member , and if a visiting Brother , of hia being never more admitted as a visitor , or becoming a member ; and immediately after a negative passes on any person ' s being proposed , the Master shall cause this law to be read , thafc no Brother present may plead ignorance . " Now ifc is self-evident that a man cannot divul ge what he does not know . As I understand

this law , ifc would be known among those present in the Lodge , at tho time of the ballot , who had opposed the election of tho candidate , and in snch case it wonld be impossible for the Master to declare the exact reverse of the truth , as in the instances mentioned by "A CONSTANT READER . " AS to the circumstances stated by your correspondent , and assuming thafc he has been rightly informed , ifc is

impossible to condemn too strongly the conduct of the W . M . in affirming a lie . I think ifc would be only a matter of strict justice , or rather I consider it is the duty of some member of the Lodgo referred to , to bring so flagrant a case of dishonest conduct before the Board of General Puiposes . I know nothing , have heard nothing of tha matter , except from your correspondent ' s letter . I am , dear sir and brother , Yours fraternally , STUDENT .

WHICH IS COERECT ? To the Editor of THE FREEMASON ' CHRONICLE . DEAR SIR AND BROTHER , —NOW thafc we havo fairly entered on tho dull season , when there is an absolute dearth of Masonic news , and editors of every class of journal are at their wits' end to sunnlv tho

usual quantum of matter , would it not be as well if the admirable discussions , " AVhich is Correct ? " so well inaugurated some months since by " P . M ., P . Z ., " were renewed P It is well known that many learned Masonic doctors differ as to the meaning and intent of certain passages in our lectures , and provided the argument is conducted it ;