The Little Chatelaine. By the Earl of Desart. 3 vols.
(Swan Sonnenschein and Co.)—Colonel Garland is a pleasant, impecu- nious gentleman with a passion for gambling on the turf, which brings no little trouble upon himself and his motherless daughters. These young ladies are introduced to us when they are aged respectively twelve and tan, in a very good scene of child-life, good enough, indeed, to recall Henry Kingsley. We follow their fortunes with no little interest, till the destinies of both are settled by marriage. Lord Desart has written a pleasant story, with nothing particularly new or striking about it, but fresh and vigorous. We like Captain Carruthers none the worse for being like Major Dobbin. The bookmaker is perhaps the most skilfully drawn character in the story. He is all that a bookmaker may be supposed to be, but he has a heart. The Little CIAlelaine, like everything else that one reads about the turf, makes one wonder that any decent man can meddle with it.
Previous page
