Success. 3 vols. By G. Prole. (Chapman and Hall.)—Surely the
initial "G." must conceal a feminine name. It is thus that we amount for finding the second master of a country grammar school described as having "the regulation military moustache and whisker, and wearing a. very light snit, and studs, rings, and watch-charms of gorgeous appear- ance." This reconciles us to the breach of etiquette which the hero commits when as a freshman at Oxford he calls upon a stranger whose appearance happens to strike him ; and this mitigates our surprise when in after life he takes his seat upon the bench, and addresses to his brother magistrates an impassioned appeal on behalf of an accused prisoner at the bar. But even female authorship scarcely accounts for the presence of a party of rebel Arabs at a fort in northern India. These will doubtless seem to the writer very petty and trifling criticisms. We will pass to something else. The hero thus addresses his first love " Any number of years hence you and I will contemplate the career of a man who was ambitious and benevolent, successful and philanthropical; who was praised and respected in high places, whose name was sur- rounded by a wreath of laurel, whom all his compeers mentioned with grateful affection, and the poor cried out loudly to bless. This shall be my part, Bessie." Did the most insufferable prig ever talk like that ? The fact is that the author knows nothing of life, or wholly wants the gift of expressing what she knows. The strange blunders into which she falls about matters of fact are only symptoms of the ignorance and want of power which she betrays when she attempts to deal with character. Her purpose and the moral of her tale are excellent. The man who wins success at the cost of all that would have made his life sweet and noble ; and the man who seems to fail in all his purposes aad yet wins the true greatness, might have been the themes of a fine novel. Further in praise we cannot go.
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