Under the Mendips. By Emma Marshall. (Seeley and Co.)—Thie is
a story of country life as it was in the West of England in the earlier part of this century. The scene is laid at Wells, in a country which the author seems to know. The Bristol riots are introduced. A vigorous sketch of these troubled days contrasts forcibly enough with the placid course of events in the heroine's Somersetshire home, though this, too, is broken by troubles of its own, domestic sorrows and losses. Mrs. Marshall, too, skilfully introduces a familiar figure in Mrs. Hannah More. A suspicion of ridicule seems to attach to the name with the present generation, so far as it is known ; but good judges, such as Macaulay, had a high opinion of the accomplished woman who bore it ; and Mrs. Marshall does no more than justice to her culture, her shrewdness, and her benevolent good sense. The Bishop of Bath and Wells, too (Dr. Law), is a carefully drawn and attractive figure. The domestic figures of Joyce, her parents, her brothers, and her lover, are pleasing and natural. Altogether, this is a good specimen of Mrs. Marshall's manner.
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