16 MAY 1891, Page 24

Friend Perditus. By Mary Tennyson. 2 vols. (Chapman and Hall.)—The

conception of this story has something striking, and even original, about it. The hero entirely loses his memory by some accident, and the narrative of how ho has to acquire his knowledge of the world afresh is interesting. The way that this conception is worked out hardly satisfies us. We have the familiar complications that might he expected. " Friend Perditus " is wealthy, and an impostor persuades him—a great deal too easily, we are inclined to think—that she is his mother. The usual troubles follow, and at last the usual conclusion is reached. A. really forcible beginning degenerates into a commonplace end. Still, there is merit enough in the tale to place it above the average.