The New Faith : a Romantic History of It. By
Charles C. T. James. 3 vols. (Ward and Downey.)—This can hardly be called an uninteresting novel, though it is also by no means wanting in crudities, and even in absurdities. Throughout the book, Mr. James's success is in inverse ratio to his ambition, for while some of his minor characters are decidedly good, the central figure, upon which he has spent much labour, and of which he is evidently very proud, is nothing but a melancholy failure. In a very pretentious postscript, he tells us that in Cecil Avernel he has endeavoured to paint the portrait of a leader of men ; but as a matter of fact, his sentimental, gushing, and slightly hysterical hero has not one of the qualities which make for leadership, except a boundless belief in himself, and even this belief is the self-conceit of a weak man rather than the just self-confidence of a strong one. He has made up his mind that modern Christianity and modern philanthropy are all wrong, and he proposes to set them right by the preaching of a new faith which is not, in any intelligible sense of the word, a faith at all, but a mere collection of sentimental, optimistic phrases, —phrases which might fascinate a few idle and silly people, but could not possibly have any power over the people among whom Avernel is represented as winning his greatest triumphs. Captain Turk, with his craze for punctuality, and his belief in the efficacy of "one big thundering vice," is much better company than his leader, for, though a caricature, he is amusing; whereas the preacher of the new faith is as dull as are the other members of the great family of prigs to which he belongs.
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