12 SEPTEMBER 1891, Page 25

Betwixt Two Lovers. By Colonel Rowan Hamilton. 2 vols. (F.

V. White and Co.)—Colonel Hamilton's novel consists of a couple of very slim volumes, which can easily be got through in a few hours, and it must regretfully be said that its brevity is its only conspicuous virtue. Its component parts are a little sport, a little soldiering, a little hypnotism, a good deal of vapid and wooden talk, and a considerable proportion of both legitimate and illegitimate love-making, all of which are rendered as unattractive as possible by a style characterised by that aggressive amateurish- ness which we associate with the maiden efforts of very young ladies eager for literary fame. Such fame as comes to Colonel Hamilton will be won by the sword rather than by the pen.