“Obvious, my dear Blase; or, as a late premier used to say, ’It can’t be missed,’ ‘Too much of water hast thou, poor Ophelia:’  and, besides, your wet ghost is a mere crib from yourself; for whenever you go hunting in cloudy weather, don’t you regularly ride with a smart silver parasol over your dear little head?”

[Illustration]

* * * * *

Soon growing tired of lounging in the library, loitering on the pier, and of all the rest of the usual dull sea-side routine, he literally knew so little what to do with himself, that, to kill an hour or two before dinner, he would frequently be seen seated on a tombstone in the churchyard, yawning; staring at the church clock, and comparing it with his own watch;—­in short, in some degree resembling

  “Patience on a monument.”

[Illustration:  A SEA-SIDE TIME-KILLER—­(Dover.)]

* * * * *

The reader will conclude by these specimens that fun and frolic are the characteristics of the Dramatic Annual; and we have given him a spice of its best humour.  These Cuts, by the way, are in a style which all illustrators would do well to cultivate.  We have seen much labour expended on illustrations of works of humour, such as fine etchy work, and points wrought up with extreme delicacy.  The effect, however, is any but humorous:  you think of painstaking and trouble, whereas a few lines vividly dashed off, by their unstudied style, will ensure a laugh, where more elaborate productions only remind us of effort.  Hood’s pen-and-ink cuts are excellent in their way—­as bits of fun, but not of art.  Now, Brooke’s designs are both works of fun and art.

* * * * *

THE FAMILY CABINET ATLAS

Is completed with the Twelfth Part, in the same style of excellence as it was commenced.  In this portion are two plates, exhibiting a comparative view of Inland Seas and Principal Lakes of the Eastern and Western Hemispheres—­which alone are worth the price of the Part.  Altogether, the uniformity and elegance of this work reflect high credit on the taste and talent of every one concerned in its production; and it really deserves a place on every writing-table not already provided with an Atlas.  For constant reference, too, it is well calculated, by its convenient size, and is preferable to the cumbrous folio, as well as the varnished, rustling, roller map.

* * * * *

THE KING’S SECRET.

Hundreds of persons have probably been disappointed by this work—­an historical novel, of the time of Edward the Third, by Mr. Power, of Covent Garden Theatre.  Scandal-loving people are so fond of concatenation, or stringing circumstances, causes, and effects together, that in the present case they made up their minds to some secret of our times:  some boudoir story of Windsor or St. James’s, which might show how royalty loves.  On the contrary, “the secret” does not come out;—­the reader is only tickled, his curiosity excited, and the tale, like an ill-going clock, is wound up without striking.