Marion's Married Life. By the Author of " Anne Dysart."
3 vols. (Hurst and Blackett.)—The main interest of this story, which is told in the autobiographical form, lies in the conflict be- tween a wife and a mother's claims. Marion's husband has a mother who thinks that she loves her son, but really loves no one but her- self. The eon believes in her, thinks that she is a model of unsel- fishness and wisdom, and finally comes to an open rapture with his wife when the two women cannot agree. The character of the mother is, we are inclined to think, drawn with too harsh lines. It is difficult to imagine bow a man of sense like Basil Mertoun could have preserved his illusion in the face of her manifest folly and vanity. Basil himself does not impress us greatly, and Marion cannot get over the difficulty of telling her own story. It is as difficult for a person to describe her own character as it is to judge of her own face. One of the best things in the book, better far than more elaborate efforts, is the minor sketch of Dr. Spurling, pompons and narrow, but with a redeeming quality of justice. His character has the skilful shading which we miss elsewhere.
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