MR. PUNCH'S SKATING PARTY.
OUR BOOKING-OFFICE.
"Have you read," asks one of the Baron's Assistants of his Chief, "Miss Braddon's Christmas Annual? It is entitled, The Misletoe Bough, and contains some of the best short stories I have read lately. One of them, 'In Mr. Cartwright's Library,' is a remarkable combination of quaint, dry humour, and literary skill. Who is the clever author? But here are other stories, too, that interest and please, and, not least among them, a charming sketch, by the ever welcome editress. Bravo, Miss Braddon!
"Brownies and Rose-leaves, by Roma White (Innes & Co.), is a pretty little book, prettily written, prettily illustrated by Leslie Brooke, and prettily bound," he continues. "Miss White has a charming knack of writing musical verse, simple, rhythmical, delightful. To children and their parents, I say, take my tip (the only one parents will get at this season), and read Roma White's dainty, delicate, fresh and breezy book."
ROBIN POOR FELLOW!
Robin Goodfellow, by Mr. Carton, is not a brilliant play, as its dialogue lacks epigrammatic sparkle: neither is it an interesting play, as the plot, such as it is, is too weak for words,—which, by the way, at once accounts for the absence of the sparkle above-mentioned.