12 SEPTEMBER 1868, Page 23

The White Rose. By Whyte Melville. 3 vols. (Chapman and

Hall.)— Mr. Whyte Melville is a pleasant and agreeable writer, he is never too sen- sational in his incidents or extravagant in his delineation of character. But in the present story, viewed as a work of art, there is a serious blunder exactlysimilar to that committed by the author of Griffith Gaunt. The first chapter contains an incident to lead up to which a volume and a half of explanation are devoted. Apart from this the story is well contrived, and there is one circumstance in the development of the plot which not even the most inveterate novel-reader could have surmised. The story of the White Rose might with advantage have been compressed into two volumes, but, nevertheless, we can with a good conscience recommend it to our readers.