Messrs. BOWYER and MORTON. As the description "monologue" is not
suggestive of music, why didn't the authors invent a special name for
the entertainment, and call it the "Solomonologue"? Most expressive.

* * * * *

OUR BOOKING-OFFICE

_The Dead Man's Gift_, by HERBERT COMPTON; the title of which might
lead one to imagine something very weird and uncanny. Nothing of the
sort. Mr. COMPTON doesn't wish to "make your flesh creep" like the Fat
Boy in _Pickwick_. It is only the story of a tea-planter's romance,
though the finding of the gift is most exciting. Interesting and well
written.

_The Cabinet Portrait Gallery_, published by CASSELL & Co., with
portraits of most of our Celebrities, by Messrs. DOWNEY, is excellent.

[Illustration: "Blackie and Son."]

Christmas Books now make their appearance, and the first and principal
offenders in disturbing the Calendar are Messrs. BLACKIE & SON.
"Among the names," says the Baron's juvenile assistant Co. Junior,
"we recognise one of our boys' most favourite authors, G.A. HENTY, who
this year gives them another exciting historical tale, _By England's
Aid_, which deals with the closing events of the War of Independence
in Holland. Also _Maori and Settler_, a story of the New Zealand
War, when young England was quite a settler for the Maori. Both
recommended. _Hal Hungerford_, by J.R. HUTCHINSON, is a good book for
boys, and _A Rash Promise, or, Meg's Secret_ by CECILIA SELBY LOWNDES,