10 MARCH 1849, Page 19

Mrs. Mackenzie Daniel's Georgiana Hammond exhibits a great im- provement

in style and composition : in the matter, perhaps, there is rather a falling-off, arising from a repetition of the same essential idea. In the novels of her late husband and herself, poverty and genteel pri- vation were mostly a principal element. An elegance of sentiment and of diction generally contrived to remove the sordid, and fix the attention on Mental emotions, rather than on low feelings and physical suffer- ings. Still, genteel poverty is unluckily too frequent to be very new in description ; and when the same theme is continually handled by the same persons, it not only involves repetition, but drives an author upon ex- aggeration in the parts which serve to develop the germ of the story. This is very conspicuous in Georgiana Hammond. The tale of her father, a solicitor with little practice—the long struggle of the family against poverty—with Mr. Ilammond's death, and the distress of the survivors—form a touching and truthful sketch, though not sketched for the first time. When Georgians is, by means not very probable, launched into a circle of pseudo fashionable life, and subsequently married, to un- dergo all kinds of " trials " from her husband, somewhat after the fashion of patient Grissel, the truthfulness with which the humble home is delineated vanishes : the occurrences and the conduct of the parties are too frequently contrary to the likelihoods of life or the usages of society. Mrs. Daniel draws from what she fancies, not from what she knows. A distinctness and feminine delicacy of deliniation, with a rather remarkable elegance of diction and sentiment, go far to cover the deficiencies of matter, and will render Georgiana Hammond a popular book among readers of the circulating library.