Uncle George's Money. By S. C. Bridgeman. 2 vole. (Chapman
and Hall.)—We have here two volumes of love-making, which is carried on between four young ladies and a slightly larger number of men, young and middle-aged. There is a rich uncle, who makes him- self as disagreeable in life and death as he well could. There is an ex- travagant father, who fares better than he deserved ; and there are some minor characters, one of them, the benevolent old clergyman, Piers Lambert, not more than a sketch, but the most pleasing personage in the book. Not much novelty can be expected out of these materials, yet the reader will find something of the kind. We venture to say that the scene in which Charlie Wingfield proposes to Maggie is quite a new thing in literature. " Look here, Maggie, Pm going to make up my difference with you. You've always wanted to marry me, I know, and you may have your will at last. Don't ever smoke another cigar, that's all." Maggie, we may explain, was a fast young lady, and had capped her offences by smoking—not a cigar, as her suitor unkindly pats it, but a cigarette—on the box of a drag. She is mean-spirited enough to accept the offer thus made, and is happy ever after. The tale is slight, but inoffensive, and fairly readable.
Previous page
