Brownie's Plot. By Thomas Cobb. 2 vols. (Ward and Downey.)—We
do not think that anything in this novel is quite so strong as certain chapters in its predecessor, " Lucy Carter ;" but it is, nevertheless, a very bright, readable, workmanlike story. " Brownie" is the domestic pet-name of a young lady who is known to the outside world as Miss Margaret Northcott, and the object of her plot is the clearing of the character of her cousin, Clement Northcott, who has been accused of forging his father's name. Clement is a manly and not ill-principled young fellow, but he is something of a reckless ne'er-do-weel, whom respectable people are quite ready to distrust; and in this case the evidence against him seems overwhelming. Circumstances prove, to the satisfaction of all concerned, that the forgery must have been committed at a certain time and by one of two men, Clement and his kinsman, Mr. Walter Litton, who at the time in question is laid up with a broken right-arm, an accident which, on the face of it, renders
writing impossible. Brownie is, however, certain that he is guilty, and her successful scheme to bring his guilt home to him is very
ingenious, though we are by means sure that it would be practi- cally possible. It would not be fair to disclose its nature, but we may say that it is very similar to, indeed almost identical with, the expedient which leads up to the denouement of a popular melo- drama. In its own modest way, Brownie's Plot must be pronounced a success.
We have received the first volume of an elaborate work which is of too technical a kind for us to notice in detail, Trade Tokens Issued in the Seventeenth Century (Elliot Stock). The original work was published in 1858 by Mr. William Boyne, a famous collector. This is a new and revised edition, brought out under the care of Mr. George C. Williamson, who acknowledges " the assistance of some of the principal collectors of Tokens in the United Kingdom as Editors of their respective Counties."
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