An Unruly Spirit. By Mrs. Aylmer Gowing. 3 vols. (F.
V. White and Co.)—An overwhelming majority of the novels of the period can be briefly described by one of two phrases. They are either "rather good," or "rather poor ;" and we fear that the latter phrase is the one which best fits Mrs. Aylmer Gowing's latest book. As novels go, it is not badly written, and some of the Irish chapters may be called good without the modifying adverb ; but the characters, one and all, fail to interest us, and the narrative materials of the story are thrown together in a most clumsy and inartistic fashion. It is by no means easy to discern the meaning of the title, for though we are introduced to several persons who may be described as unruly spirits, there is not one of them who provides a centre of interest; and, indeed, the con- struction of the novel is so loose, that to find any centre of interest at all is by no means an easy task. The most dangerous and objectionable unruly spirit is certainly Alexis Calverley, who can only be described by a word from the use of which modern fastidiousness is wont to shrink, and who in a very improbable fashion achieves the seduction of Edgar Penrice ; but it is only in the third volume that this exceedingly unpleasant person becomes a leading character in the novel. Had she been kept out of it altogether, and the story been brought to a satisfactory close soon after the shooting of Lord Curranmore by the Land Leaguers, the book would have been better than it is.
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