ALACE AND HOVEL

This ""splendid coup d'oeil"" of London a hundred years ago was ""sold only by subscription"" when it appeared in 1870. Along with the many old engravings, it is a very lively tour conducted by an editor of the New York World, from Buckingham Palace where Victoria was sipping a half a pint of raw liquor a day, to London Bridge, not falling down, but swarming with rubbish, gypsies and vagrants. There are word and picture scenes of the Old Bailey and the Haymarket, Newgate and Soho, the Colleges, the cafes, the amusements (100 rats killed by a terrier in 9 minutes in a pit), and all of it is swimmingly alive with royalty and rakes, hawkers and sewer hunters. More beer than skittles-- Mr. Kirwan has a particularly bright and beady eye for ""the Haunts of Vice, Misery and Crime"".