We can still encourage the unsuccessful author, who has been befogged by romance and idealism, to peg away for a year or two at some, if possible, unique form of manufacture, going into it from the bottom and learning its tricks and its manners. He will have at least the opportunity of becoming a good mechanic, and probably some chance of getting up a paying novel in the hereafter-with a seductive cover. * * * * * There can be no doubt that "The Common Lot," by Robert Herrick, Macmillan Company, is among the strongest of this year's books, and one which should take high rank as a thoroughly representative American novel.