have seen for some time. The author seems to have
had by him some well-written papers on various French subjects—amusing descriptions of life in Paris and at Biarritz, one or two translations of French tale; interesting statistics of the colporteur system and the resources of the Basque province. It then occurred to him that he might utilize these,
and at the same time accomplish what now seems necessary to a literary status—the production of a work of fiction which he modestly limits to two volumes. So he calls into existence a Mr. Arthur Newlands, who has a friend in the City and a love affair that does not go smoothly. Early in the first volume the lady and her family are packed off to
Australia and remain away to the last chapter, and Mr. Newlands is sent by his friend to the Continent, to console himself with the collec- tion of the statistics that the author has ready for the purpose in his desk.
He is rewarded for his assiduity by a place in the city house, and the lady is brought home from Australia to marry him. This is the story.
There are certainly two other characters introduced, two old maids of the old malignant type that was in vogue before the modern re-action in favour of the class set in, but they have nothing to do, and are only brought on to amuse when the author has some misgivings that his economical papers are getting slow. For this purpose they are carried about from place to place, and appear and disappear in the oddest way.
There are also certain minor personages who take no hold upon us, and are only useful in supplying a second marriage at the end. The author gives a good deal of useful and some entertaining information in these two volumes, but he can be scarcely said to have written a novel.
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