13 NOVEMBER 1886, Page 24

The Shrine of Death, and other Stories. By Lady Dilke.

(Rout- ledge and Sons.)—Lady Dilke is an accomplished and skilful writer, and her art does not fail her in the eight stories of which this volume is composed. But we can say little more for them. We cannot think that any reader will be the better or the happier for them. Their studied gloom might be no objection if they were true to the fine moral announced in the preface, that to have "an end, a purpose is the great distinction, the supreme justification of a life." But we fail to see their connection with it.