Never forEver. By Russell Gray. 3 vols. (Bentley.) — Russell is hardly
a woman's name, but this novel is evidently the work of a young lady. It is the purest girlish romance that can be conceived or has ever been executed. At the same time parts of it are very pleasing, there is skill in the conduct of some scenes, and the characters are drawn to, if not from, the life. The second and third volumes drag, but the first is thoroughly readable. And the glimpse of the characters given us in the first volume promises more than their working-out can be said to perform. It is true that they are by no means novel. The two sisters and their lovers have sat to a score of painters. We all know the flighty and impetuous girl who is sure to fall in love at once, and to let her choice be seen even before it is well made; and we know that her sister must be grave and demure, laying down excellent precepts and supporting them by her own example. The tall, handsome, good-for- nothing brute of a Guardsman, who marries in baste and makes his wife repent -at leisure, is also a stock character, and is very fascinating to young ladies, especially if they are giddy. But surely young ladies keep fathers for the express purpose of sounding even Guardsmen about their moans, and how a young couple is to marry on 2001. a year, and live in lodgings, with the consent of the father, passes our comprehension. Girls dream of such things for ever, but the realization, we hope, comes under the other half of the title.
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