Rosni Harvey. By Hannah Lynch. 3 vols. (Chapman and Hall.)—There
could hardly be a better illustration of the dis- advantages of the three-volume system than that provided by this novel. It is clearly the work of an able and cultivated woman ; it is both a thoughtful and a well-written book; and yet it is robbed of more than half of its legitimate effectiveness by being spun out to about double its legitimate length. Rosni Harvey, who, though strong-minded enough to make a hobby of undivine philosophy, as expounded by Comte and Mr. Herbert Spencer, is a very attractive girl, becomes engaged to her brother's tutor, who deserts her to make a match which he considers more advantageous to his interests. In the company of a feminine cousin she takes an excursion up the Mediterranean, and on the steamer finds a second lover, who is both more estimable and more loyal than the faithless Randal Lismore, and to him she is eventually married. This is the whole story, and it will be felt that it is a slender Atlas for a three-volume world. The author feels it not leas keenly than her readers, and the prolonged story of the voyage, introducing a group of people who have not the slightest hold upon the action, is padding undisguised. In an inferior kind of book this would not matter, but Rosni Harvey might have been so much better than it is, and its defect is there- fore specially irritating. The heroine with the extraordinary Christian name is a really well-conceived character, and as we have said, the writing throughout the novel is excellent.
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