The Barrys of Beigh. By E. Hall. (McGlashan and Gill.)—In
reading this story, we have been led on from chapter to chapter, in the constant hope of something turning up, something substantial, either in incident or development of plot, but we have been disappointed. It opens well ; we are introduced to some most uncommon personages, and they and their wild ways are sketched with considerable vivacity and skill. As the story progresses, we are introduced to more odd people, but one by one they all turn out very poor creatures indeed, and all we get is some pleasant descriptions of Irish scenery, odd traits in peasant life, and a few isolated, humonristic occurrences which have not much to do with the story. Mr. Hall's characters always seems on the brink of saying or doing something striking, but it never comes off. To make up for a lamentable lack of incident through the greater part of the volume, he gives us more than we can well swallow in the last few chapters. As Harte Barry, Mrs. "Captain" Armstrong, Thady Hanly, Kate Barry, The McCaura, the McCarthys, and others appear and re- appear, we long for a Lever to breathe life into their dry bones ; it is indeed the manner of Lever which Mr. Hall copies, but ho has not caught his spirit. As we said, the best of the book is at the beginning; there is much promise in the idea of the Tipsy Club, its crazy Grand Master, and its grotesque rules (of which we may quote the second, "That no ladies of any sex whatsoever should be admitted into it"), but it comes to nothing. Mr. Hall must try again.
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