A hundred years ago
From the 'Spectator,' 30 July 1870—Brilliant Prospects. By R. L. Johnson. (Griffin.)-- Is it fair to criticize a book the whole of which one has not read? Any one who saw our "reviewer's copy" of this tale would observe that the pages arc cut up to 65 and that half of page 64 is occupied with a description of how Mrs. Titbit finished'hcr plum-pudding. done in this style— "Mrs. Titbit was on the finish. and just then actively engaged collecting into a polygon the unadhesive fragments. detached by accidk.nt or design from their sustaining influence. and the removal of which fragments from her plate was only required by the most keen observer then present in order to pronounce Mrs. Titbit's plate a perfectly clean finish." And so it goes on. We could not get beyond this. There is a point at which the patience even of a writer of "short notices" fails him. What comes after page 64 we do not know, but up to that point this book is about the most intolerably weari- some that ever we saw.
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