Goddess Fortune. By Thomas Sinclair. 3 vols. (Triibner and Co.)—It
is very difficult to get at the story of this book, so strange, so irritating, not to say maddening, is the style in which it is written. What can be done with pages of this kind of writing?—" His family had that genuine heartiness which gives the first of chances to those who really can depend, and do depend, on themselves—a kind of in- fluence surrounding them that was as far from the ungainliness of rustic. kindness, as it was from sometimes the cowardice, and far oftener simply the weakness, of over-trained aristocracy." And not content with his native obscurity, Mr. Sinclair introduces a Mr. Raddle, who talks in a way that even he feels to be incomprehensible. Add to this, that there are some specimens of what the author thinks model Parliamentary oratory, and the reader has about as hard a task before him as can well be imagined. The story, as far as we can make it out, is of two young men, each of whom turns out to be some- body else, with very diverse endings to their careers, "Goddess Fortune" persisting in making the one unhappy, and in blessing the other. Mr. Sinclair shows signs of ability now and then ; bat we do not feel at all confident that he will ever use it to good literary purpose.
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