Arthur Wilson : a Study. 3 vols. (Tinsley.)—We have been
some- -what exercised in mind by endeavouring to find out why this work has been called a "Study." Possibly the hero, Arthur Wilson himself, is a atudy after Richardson. There is something Grandisonian in the very elegant antitheses in which he expresses himself. Here is an instance. He is acting as amanuensis to his patron and benefactor, and when that patron is visited by a friend of distinction, absents himself from the house, unwilling either to intrude into the dining-room or to sink to the kitchen (whence, indeed, he had been promoted). This is the way inWhich he expresses himself :—" There was, indeed, the kitchen for me again ; but I should be unworthy the kindness you have shown me if I had not known that it would have given you as much pain to send me there as I should have felt reluctance to go. I considered, therefore, I was .consulting your feelings no less than my own in the course I adopted." Could anything be more neatly turned ? The patron himself is a really successful study of Miss Austen ; the way in which he deals with his wife strongly reminds us of the admirable Mr. Bennet. But by whatever name the author may choose to describe it, Arthur Wilson is a very pleasant story. If the wild and purposeless episode of the Portuguese refugee had been left out, it would have been vastly improved by the omission, and we should have had two volumes instead of three, an advantage which we shall miss no occasion of magnifying.
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