iss Preston writes an admirable prose style, and
the minor characters in the book are wonderfully lifelike and true.

The Englishwoman's Year-Book contains a really extraordinary amount of
useful information on every subject connected with woman's work. In the
census taken in 1831 (six years before the Queen ascended the Throne), no
occupation whatever was specified as appertaining to women, except that
of domestic service; but in the census of 1881, the number of occupations
mentioned as followed by women is upwards of three hundred and thirty.
The most popular occupations seem to be those of domestic service, school
teaching, and dressmaking; the lowest numbers on the list are those of
bankers, gardeners, and persons engaged in scientific pursuits. Besides
these, the Year-Book makes mention of stockbroking and conveyancing as
professions that women are beginning to adopt. The historical account of
the literary work done by Englishwomen in this century, as given in the
Year-Book, is curiously inadequate, and the list of women's magazines is
not complete, but in all other respects the publication seems a most
useful and excellent one.

* * * * *

Wordsworth, in one of his interesting letters to Lady Beaumont, says that
it is 'an awful truth that there neither is nor can be any genuine
enjoyment of poetry among nineteen out of twenty of those persons who
live or wish to live in the broad light of the world--among those who
either are, or are striving to make themselves, people of consideration
in society,' adding that the mission of poetry is 'to console the
afflicted; to add sunshine to daylight by making the happy happier; to
teach the young and the gracious of every age to see, to think, and feel,
and, therefore, to become more actively and securely virtuous.' I am,
however, rather disposed to think that the age in which we live is one
that has a very genuine enjoyment of poetry, though we may no longer
agree with Wordsworth's ideas on the subject of the poet's proper
mission; and it is interesting to note that this enjoyment manifests
itself by creation even more than by criticism. To realise the
popularity of the great poets, one should turn to the minor poets and see
whom they follow, what master they select, whose music they echo. At
present, there seems to be a reaction in favour of Lord Tennyson, if we
are to judge by Rachel and Other Poems, which is a rather remarkable
little volume in its way. The poe