The D'Eyncourts of Fairleigle. By Thomas Rowland Kemp. 3 vols.
(S. Tinsloy.)--Wo must once again remonstrate with Mr. Samuel ;Insley. He told us some time ago that he was going to publish good novels in one volume, and the announcement was greeted with a general chorus of praise. And ho did give us two or three of the promised size and quality. The book before us can boast neither the one nor the other. In fact, it is quite of the old type, a novel of the very type that provoked the feeling which Mr. Tinsley recognised,—metal, if we may use the metaphor, of indifferent quality beaten out very thin. There is a wicked uncle who dispossesses a nephew and niece of their rightful property by means of a forged will, and there is an accomplice, a shamphilantlaropist, drawn, of course, in ludicrous caricature, whom the wicked uncle murders. Virtue and right triumph in the end, but only after many trials and dangers endured by the true heir. We may be allowed to say that the author somewhat abuses his privilege in respect of these same trials and dangers. It is quite legitimate that he should leave his readers in a suspense as agonising as he can contrive to make it about the fate of his hero, but we submit that after such a passage as this, "A splash as of a heavy body falling into the water—a sob—a gurgle--one more unearthly shriek—and the mist-shroud closed round his corpse in its watery coffin," the reader is justified in expressing in the strongest terms his disappointment and annoyance when the "corpse " reappears, quits ready for all the rest of the heir's business. Neither tho plot nor the style of The D'Eyncourts of Fairleigh entitles it to any commendation.
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