I am inclined to think that the peculiar charm of Mr. Shorthouse's work is more abundantly manifest in his short stories than in his more elaborate romances; and the five tales in his latest volume represent his most characteristic artistic virtues, while leaving no room for the intrusion of the faults which do something to mar their effect. Mr. Shorthouse's creative achievements give a certain impression of remoteness which is pleasing for a time, but is apt to become a trifle wearisome and tantalizing; and probably few readers of "John Inglesant" and " Sir Percival" retain to the end the gusto with which they read the opening chapters. A single dream scene in a play, where the actors in the vision are seen with softened outlines through a veil of gauze, has a charm of its own which is almost entirely dependent upon its unfamiliarity; but an entire drama acted behind gauze would pall upon the spectator, and Mr. Shorthouse's treatment produces an effect somewhat similar to that produced by the stage veil. His long romances resemble the hypothetical play, his shorter tales are the isolated dream scenes. The characters in the stories here are, like all the author's characters, somewhat shadowy; but their shadowy quality is given by a skillfully managed remoteness, not by careless, unimaginative work. We do not realize them as we realize the characters in the works of the great masters of fiction, but we have the feeling that we might realize them if we could only get near enough—if we could go behind the gauze. To change the image: landscape and figures are seen as they are seen in moonlight, and moonlight has both its special charm and its special defect of revelation. The princess in the title-story and the Baroness Helena Von Saarfeld are essentially moonlight people; and the Marquis de St. Palaye in the story which bears his name—one of the most movingly beautiful of recent ideal creations—is almost the only character whom we see with the distinctness given by familiar sunshine. The book is rich in work of a very exceptional loveliness of conception and execution, and those who in its pages make the acquaintance of Mr. Shorthouse for the first time are people to be envied. James Ashcroft Noble in London Academy.