12 AUGUST 1871, Page 20

Clara Delamaine. 3 vols. (Tinsley.)—Our criticism on Clara Dela- maine

will be very brief. It Is simply unfit to read. We have a hint of what is coming in the first volume, when wo aro told that the heroine " was one of those intensely feminine beings who have all the feelings and passions of their sex developed to the very utmost," and we have accordingly in the second volume a scene in which the young lady justi- fies the description which has been given of her, a scene snob as we have seldom, if ever, seen in an English book before. When we add that the critical point of the story is whether a fortune-hunting scoundrel who has seduced the heroine's mother will succeed in marrying the heroine, we have said quite as much as is necessary, and more than we have liked, about Clara Delamaine.