The Hill of Trouble, and other Stories. By A. C.
Benson. (Isbister and Co. 6s.)—Mr. Benson has tuned his lyre to the romantic key of the Middle Ages. That is, not of the bustling, historical, mediaeval romance, but the Middle Ages of "still sheets of water, divers woes," and of deep woods through which rides a knight, pale and in gleaming armour. Farther, the stories are all aliegories,—indefin.ite allegories, as they teach no certain or obvious moral, but they treat of the struggle of geed against evil, of battles between Oen:lien angels and the evil spirits of black enchantments. It requires no small literary art to keep to this note through a whole book of stories and never once overstep the faint boundaiy line which separates the romantic from the ridiculous, but Mr. Benson contrives to keep' his readers sympathies throughout. ..There is a glsaan of pee* shot through the stories which redeems them irons reoaetoan and readers who love "gentle melancholy" will find great pleasure in the volume. It is, of course, a sad book. Death lies at the end of many of the stories, and the ordinary pleasures and joys of life cheer none of them. ,But they all have charm, and the best of them may teach us much. "The Light of the Body" is the one which seems to us the moat perfect, and the picture of the very human Bishop, who much dislikes the too great penetration of his penitent, gives relief to the minor key in which the story is &A, As a whole, the boek is full of delicate fancy, and contains, as indeed may be expected from Mr. Benson, SOM0 very charming. writing.
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