A Life's Hazard; or, the Outlaw of Wentworth Waste. By
Henry Esmond. 3 vols. (S. Low and Co.)—Our first feeling in regard of these volumes is one of irritation with their author, for appropriating as his pseudonym one of the most illustrious names in literature. Nor is this irritation diminished when we find the name of Esmond prefixed to a very ordinary story of Irish sedition and wild life, such as has been told frequently before, and generally, it must be said, better than here. We do not pretend to offer our readers an outline of the plot, nor, in candour to them, can we recommend them to seek it at first hand. It may be said, however, that those who are likely to relish a story in which nearly all the characters adopt what is known, we believe, as a " rich Irish brogue," and who enjoy seeing the same printed phonetically, as it were, may appreciate this effort. For ourselves, this spelling has well-nigh proved fatal to our perusing it at all. Moreover, the style of our author is very stilted and grandiose ; there is no spring or dash in It, and it is, therefore, particularly unsuited and uncongenial to his theme.
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