The Conquest of Charlotte. By David S. Meldrurn. (W. Black-
wood and Sons. 6s.)—Mr. Meldrum is a writer of considerable ability, but he is not strong enough to usurp successfully the privilege of being obscure and diffuse. Take a page, one might almost say take any page, in this stout volume of nearly four hundred, closely printed, and you will find good things in it. But as page follows page an effect of weariness is produced. We are lured on, for it is really difficult to lay down the book, by a promise that is never felfilled. And then there is much that it is at least difficult to understand. There is Bab, for instance, who is, so to speak, the villein of the story. He is always saying something which, we are told, is insolent or cruel or detestable for one reason or another; but it is not easy to say what the reason is. Doubtless there is an answer to all these conundrums, but readers cannot be expected to take the trouble to look for it. There is not a little waste of really good material in The Conquest of Charlotte.
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