14 MARCH 1868, Page 21

The Matrimonial Vanity Fair. By the Author of Whitefiiars. 3

vols. (Skeet.)—The title of this novel does not lead us to expect much from the book itself, but even our moderate expectations are disap- pointed. Alternately vulgar and tedious, both comedy and sensational- ism disgust us. The author of 1Vhitefriars has just sufficient power to achieve a striking failure ; one which combines all the faults of the school of Miss Braddon with other literary vices of a more effete genera- tion of writers. We may as well add that we mean to convoy no com- pliment by the adjective annexed to failure. It is the failure, not the book, that is striking.