The Years that the Locust Hath Eaten. By Annie C.
Holds- worth. (Heinemann.)—There is surely interest enough of the
tragical sort in the main situation on which Miss Holdsworth has constructed her tale, without the episode of the heroine's unlawful passion. She has married a shallow, selfish impostor, deceived by a veneer of culture and earnestness, and she finds out that her ideal husband is a selfish humbug. That, as we have said, is enough. But the new novelist can no more keep unlawful love out of her stories than Mr. Dick could keep King Charles's head out of his Memorial. What is the cause ? Is it poverty of imagination ? Is it a special public which demands this unwhole- some excitement? We have no particular complaint against this tale. On the contrary, there is some excellent work in it. But we wish that the author would remember that there are women,
and these the noblest, to whom such thoughts as she attributes to Priscilla are impossible. The femme incomprise is not of the finest quality.
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