15 JANUARY 1876, Page 22

A Widow of Windsor. By Annie Gaskell. (Samuel Tinsley.)—A widow

on the title-page of a novel always frightens us. Novelists choose to connect them with vulgar scheming, just as the classical poets connected stepmothers with ideas of cruelty and treachery. But Rose, the -" Widow of Windsor," is none of these. Her manners are those of a maiden; and her heart is perfectly simple. In fact, the book is a pretty little story of society, and might very well be a transcript from life. But though Miss Gaskell writes naturally, she does not contrive to interest her readers sufficiently.