12 MARCH 1864, Page 25

Mr•. and Mrs. Faulconbridge. By Hamilton Aide. (Smith, Elder, and

Co.)—Captain Aide has not come up to his own mark in " Rita," but the

plot of Mr. and Mrs. Faulconbridge is original, and would make a capital drama. It is the story of a young man, grandson to a wealthy country baronet, who, as he believes, seduced his grandmother, and who tries to avenge her, and the interest is confined to his efforts to achieve this end. His scheme is nothing less than to marry his sister to the baronet's heir, and so secure to the descendants of the seduced girl the property she ought to have received from mar- riage. It is well worked out, and the characters engaged are fairly described in good easy English which it is pleasant to read. The author can, however, do much better than this, and must himself be aware of the injustice as well as absurdity of the last scene. A man like Faul- conbridge might fling away a baronetcy, but not when he can only do it by destroying the only evidence of his own father's legitimacy.