The Provost - Marshal. By the Hon. Frederick Moncreiff. (William
Blackwood and Sons.)—It is tolerably safe to say that this romance of Fifeshire and Kinross would not have been written but for the example first set by Mr. Stevenson. The Uncle Halkerstone " who is the chief, or at least directing, villain of the story recalls a similar scoundrel in " Kidnapped." Mr. Moncreiff is an agreeable and scholarly writer ; that is to say, he has carefully got up the period of Scottish history— the end of the sixteenth century—with which he deals. Robin Maxwell, the young hero, is quite presentable in the society of romance. He has his fair share of good adventures and very bad enemies, and his final tussle with Father Stavin is admirably told. The Barbara who ultimately marries Robin is a bright lass after the heart of Mr. Crockett. It must be allowed, however, that some of the incidents have a rather unnatural look, and that the plot flags here and there. It would be rash, therefore, to predict at this stage that Mr. Moncreiff will prove a great, or even successful, Scottish romancist.
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