man’s after-life of an antipathy (toward womankind) arising from a severe shock received in early childhood--an antipathy which is happily removed when the hero, helpless on a sick-bed in a burning house, is borne out by a brave and athletic girl. In spite of its “medicated” character, the story is full of delightful gossip, amusing descriptions and characterisation, and thoughtful speculation over miscellaneous matters connected with the healing art. If, as some contend, Dr. Holmes has in these books emphasised the moral issue at the expense of artistic perfection, they still have great value as records of personality. In Mr. Noble’s words, the author “is a man whose temperament makes him intensely interested in human nature, and whose bent of mind gives him a special interest in any development of human nature which, by exhibiting exceptional possibilities or limitations, casts some strange side-light upon its more ordinary and normal conditions.” _Mrs. Elizabeth Barstow Stoddard._--Mrs. Elizabeth Barstow Stoddard (1823-1902), wife of the poet Richard Henry Stoddard, wrote three novels remarkable in their day, “The Morgesons” (1862), “Two Men” (1865), and “Temple House” (1867), which found few readers in their time and are now almost forgotten, but which evinced careful observation of life and customs, and decided if not eccentric individuality. Republished in 1888 and again in 1901, “The Morgesons” was praised by such judicious critics as Mr. Stedman, Mr. Julian Hawthorne, and Professor Beers (who declared he had read it four times); but it again failed of popular favour; it had become old-fashioned. _Edmund Kirke._--Under this pen name, James Roberts Gilmore (1822-1903) was for many years a well known writer. In 1857 he retired from business with a competency, and thereafter devoted himself mainly (except 1873-83) to literature. His earlier novels, “Among the Pines” (1862), “My Southern Friends” (1862), “Among the Guerillas” (1863), “Down in Tennessee” (1863), “Adrift in Dixie” (1863), and “On the Border” (1864), were concerned with the Southern life with which he became acquainted in war-time. In later life, he wrote “The Last of the Thorndikes” (1889) and “A Mountain-White Heroine” (1889). His earlier stories were popular and did much to acquaint readers with slavery.