Cassell's Family Magazine, June - November, 1897. (Cassell and Co.)—The
Family Magazine, like the other publications of the firm, contrives to keep up its distinctive character, a character which it is easier to recognise than to describe. The serial stories are "By a Hair's Breadth," by Headon Hill, a first- rate tale of Russia, the Police, Nihilism, &c. and " The Adventures of John Bell—Ghost Exposer," a collaboration by Mrs. L. T. Meade and R Eustace. Mr. Becke has, as usual, some interesting stories to tell, toned to suit his audience. So have Major Arthur Griffiths and Mr. Robert Barr. The fiction, altogether, is a feature. Of the miscellaneous articles we may notice one on "Vanity Fair Cartoons," in which use is made of the stores of interesting material hidden away in the back volumes of the Vanity Fair Album. "Character and Costume," by Mr. H. 0. Arnold- Forster, M.P., embodies a happy idea. This is to put some familiar face and figure among novel surroundings. Sir Francis Drake, for instance, is dressed up as an Admiral of to-day, while Lord C. Beresford appears as a Greek Admiral ; Napoleon Bonaparte is pictured as an Italian gentlemen in a bowler hat ; we see Charles L on a bicycle ; President McKinley appears in the costume of his predecessor, George Washington ; and, happiest hit of all, a medal presents us with the features of "Divas C. J. Rhodus Imperator." We must not forget to mention "Our Birthday Pages," with its portraits of living celebrities, and the still more interesting presentments of the dead in "Some Club Ghosts," by Sir Wemyss Reid. We should have been glad to see more than the single article with which we have to be content. Cobden, Bright, Thackeray, and Robert Lowe are among the illustrious ones who are thus pictured.
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