THE JURY. By Eden Phillpotts. (Hutchinson. 7s. 6d.) 1- , --Except for
a prologue and epilogue, the whole action of this novel takes place in the jury-room of a West Country Assize Court. The young Spanish wife of a local squire has been charged with murdering her husband. Though the jury return a unanimous verdict of " Guilty," the final chapter shows the prisoner to be innocent, after all. Whether Mr. Phillpotts intends the epilogue to be an attack on the jury system, or whether its purpose is to add spice to the tale, we cannot tell. At all events, the story itself is an original and striking piece of work. We are merely given the conversation of the jury in the retiring room. But through it we are not only initiated into the details of a mysterious and intriguing crime, and shown from varied angles of human vision the personality of the supposed murderess, but we have brought vividly before us, as they seize every opportunity of venting their own little egos, the characters of the ten jurymen and two jurywomen. Mr. Phillpotts has given us more charming books. But he has written few cleverer ones.
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