18 SEPTEMBER 1886, Page 24

That Most Distressful Country. By E. C. Boyse. 3 vols.

(F. V: White and Co.)—This novel reminds us, in a way, of "Lorna Doone." Not that the incidents are in the least the same, or even tint there is any marked resemblance between the principal character-. But there is a freshness and vraisemblance about the narrative which irresistibly recall Mr. Blackmore's romance. At the present time, any- thing relating to Ireland has an exceptional interest ; and the graphic picture of the terrible Rebellion of 1798 which is presented to us in these volumes, will produce a powerful impression on all who realise how little things have changed in "that distressful country." The author is distinctly at his best when treating of the stirring events of the Rebellion ; and we cannot help feeling that the second volume, which is taken up with the life of the fashionable world in Londor, under the Prince Regent, is inferior to the first, in which we are at Ballydorough. Bat his dramatis personce are too real and too charm- ing to be ever really dell; and we have no hesitation in saying that this book should take a very high place indeed among the novels of the season.