Cousin Cinderella. By Mrs. Paul King. 2 vols. (Bentley.)— We
might apply to this novel the line, " Desinit in piscem mulier formosa superne." The quotation would be the more apposite because its first heroine is a girl of enchanting beauty, who is dispossessed in favour of a quite moderately good-looking young woman, who happens to be blest with a great capacity of manage- ment. This is the "Cousin Cinderella ; " but she is not in the least like the real Cinderella, for she is as selfish and unprincipled as she is clever. Beautiful Naomi, who is very good, though she is a little stupid, is handed over to a savage kind of person, who may be good to her, we are allowed to hope, for the false Cinderella gets all the prizes of life. The story is distinctly clever, and possesses in a high degree the merit of readability ; but there are disagreeable things in it, as, for instance, the foolish flirtation of Lady Hughes with Mr. Bassett. Then there is a curious tinge of the preternatural in the clairvoyante Camma, and in the mysterious ailment which now and then reminds the triumphant heroine of a past she would gladly forget.
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