Poggerty's Fairy, and other Tales. By W. S. Gilbert. (Routledge.)
—With many of the stories in this book, the public—or at least a considerable section of it—must be tolerably familiar. Five of them—" Foggerty's Fairy," "An Elixir of Love," "Creatures of Impulse," "The Wicked World," and "Comedy and Tragedy "— have already, to all intents and purposes, seen the light on the stage. Of their literary qualities little, therefore, need be said, except, perhaps, that "The Elixir of Love" is preferable to The Sorcerer, which is based on it. Some of the other stories in this volume show us Mr. Gilbert in his most Jerroldian vein. Take, for example, the pleasant story of "Johnny Pounce," which abounds in such neatly turned sentences as : "The salary was small, but then so was Johnny, and it was understood that the two should increase, and grow up together—an arrangement which was fortunately broken through, for, at fifteen, Johnny became physi- cally a constant quantity." "The Burglar's Story" and "The Finger of Fate" are excellent specimens of Mr. Gilbert's special humour. Dolly Fortescue, in "The Finger of Fate," is as gro- tesque an absurdity in her way, as the author of "The Bab Ballads" has ever presented his admirers with.
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