NOVELS AND TALES.—Hadasseh. By E. Lenty Collins. (T. Fisher Unwin.)—Mr.
Collins has conceived the somewhat ambi- tious idea of telling again the story of Esther. He has taken much pains with his tale, but has scarcely been successful. In trying, it would seem, to make his style dignified, he has made it cumbrous, and even unintelligible. Here, for instance, is what we read when the Persian King has chosen Hadasseh (Esther) for his Queen :—" Then he took Hadasseh's hand, and raised her up to stand beside him, while he set his diadem before her in token of Ins love and desire, though she trembled for the word of the Lord, which said this thing should pass. They went from the Royal Court, each military portion, oven Aman, who prostrated himself, and was meanwhile eaten up with rage and vexation for his daughter's sake, and that his cherished plans were thus frustrated, Nevertheless, he readily bethought of his work of evil, and was ready to bring every factor of such evil to work in un- ravelling the mystery concerning whom it was the King had at last chosen to wife. Thus the great epoch of the State was brought to a close amidst curious complications and great cupidity in the land." The copious use of italics is not judicious. A writer should be independent of the printers for his emphasis. "Stadium" is, we observe, twice spelt " stradium."—In the Sunlight, by Angelica Selby, 2 vols. (F. Warne and Co.), gets its name, it would seem, from the fact that the scene, for the most part, is laid in the Riviera. There is an abundance of love-making ; the heroine goes through a great deal of trouble ; a worthy lover dies, and those is a most unintelligible villain, in the shape of an Italian Count, who gives the young lady's well-wishers no little uneasiness ; finally she comes back, to discover that she might as well have chosen at once the honest young Englishman who has loved her from the beginning. But then In the Sunlight would never have been written. The dialogue is vivacious and natural ; but we cannot say much more for this story.—Two Masters. By B. M. Croker. (F. V. White.)—This is a really amusing and well-written tale of its kind. There is a mystery of crime which has to be cleared up, and with which the reader is kept in suspense for a long time; there are huge difficulties in the heroine's love-affairs—she seems ex- ceptionally unlucky both in her father and in her husband— finally, everything is cleared up satisfactorily. The humour is perhaps a little boisterous, and the situations sometimes a little forced ; but Two Masters is always readable, and leaves no bad taste after it.—Pretty Miss Smith. By Florence Warden. (W. Heinemann.)—This is a story which it is difficult to criticise with- out unfairly revealing the secret of a very elaborate plot. We shall content ourselves with saying that the surprise, when it comes, is genuine. Here certainly it is the unexpected that happens. If one is content to accept an exciting tale without inquiring too closely whether it has much to do with real life, Miss Warden's tale will please.—Drifting Apart. By. Katharine S. Macquoid. (Percival and Co.)—This is a piece of delicate work- manship. The three chief characters, Cl6mence, steadfast in her affections and beautifully unselfish, Rosalie, giddy and bent on pleasure, and the well-meaning, pleasant, weak Louis, are all drawn with much skill. The scene is laid in a French town, as is Miss Macquoid's usual custom, and the surroundings are given with her wonted skill. Altogether it is a good specimen of work that is always meritorious. In" Hetty's Revenge," a shorter tale which fills up the volume, we are taken to the Yorkshire moors. There is vigour in the story, but neither in conception nor execution does it please as much as its companion.—The Black Drop. By Hume Nisbet. (Trischler.)—This, we learn from the author's preface, is the "study of a man who was cursed at his birth, and who struggled constantly through a long pilgrimage to overcome 'the Black Drop.'" When the tale really opens, he is a respectable young Quaker, who in a moment delivers himself over to a profligate creature, and tramples under foot every habit and conviction of his life. In short, this hi a story of fate ; though the author permits his hero to triumph in the end over the evil destiny which pursues him from the beginning. It is a clever book, but a reader who retains the old-fashioned idea of finding pleasure in a novel will scarcely go to it.—Still loss will he choose Save Me from My Friends, by E. F. Knight (Long- mans). A. certain Ralph Anderson is told when be is at College, by an Indian theosophist, that he may do a great deal for mankind unless he is ruined by a woman's in- fluence. The prediction goes a long way to fulfil itself. Anderson devotes his life to philosophy, and meanwhile is mm. potently blind in the choosing of his friends. A. more unfortunate selection could not be imagined. And than a woman crosses his path, and he has a chance, it would seam, of happiness, but between his own folly and the villainy of his friend, he loses the opportunity. An absolutely wasted life is always sad to read about, but what are we to say of it when it is wasted in spite of the very noblest qualities ? Such a thing may happen, in the course of that strange waste which is the most inscrutable of all the problems of life ; but it is pessimism to make it the subject of art.—The Sardonyx Ring. By Belle Gray Taylor. (G. P. Putnam's Sons.)—This "Romance of Normandy" is, we suppose, a first effort. We cannot say much for the construction, nor for the style ; the author has an ambition beyond her powers, at least beyond any powers that she has at present developed. Still, there is promise. The writer at least aims at a plot, and has literary ideas.
Previous page
