* * * * *

_The Wane of Uxenden_ (ARNOLD) seems to be one of those novels which
may be classed as worthy in intention without being exactly happy in
execution. Miss LEGGE has a desire to warn us all against the perils
of monkeying with spiritism, and she has chosen the method of making
it tiresome even to read about. Well, it is a method certainly.
_Uxenden_ was a nice old family, which had come down to cutting its
timber while a rich Jewish soap-and-scent-manufacturer sat rubbing his
hands on a slice of the property, waiting for the rest of it to come
his way. _Uxenden_ eventually waned entirely, and without tears so far
as I was concerned. I feel sure _Mr. La Haye_ (_né Levinstein_) would
make a better landlord than the old squire, in spite of the prejudices
of the countryside.... No, I am afraid it would be stretching a point
to promise you any great entertainment from this well-intentioned but
rather woolly book. _Brother Jenkins_, the fraud, of the Society of
Seven, is about the most entertaining of the marionettes.

* * * * *

[Illustration: _Lady Customer_. "BUT ARE YOU SURE THAT THIS CHAIR IS
GENUINE CHARLES II.? IT LOOKS RATHER NEW."

_Fake Antique Dealer_ (_off his guard_). "I'M SORRY, MADAM, WE HAVE NO
_REAL_ ANTIQUES IN STOCK. YOU SEE WE CAN'T GET THE LABOUR."]

* * * * *

OUR KINDLY CRITICS.