20 DECEMBER 1890, Page 24

The Dominant Seventh. By Kate Elizabeth Clark. (Heinemann.) — The Dominant

Seventh is a somewhat romantic story with, as its title denotes, a musical setting. The characters are musicians, and without their music they would not possess much interest for us. It is in the treatment of the elements of the musical atmo- sphere that the writer displays knowledge and acquaintance with that air of romance and supersensitiveness that musicians feel and are swayed by. The prevailing bent of writers to introduce the psychical element into their stories is illustrated by one or two

• incidents occuring during a performance. The characters, indeed, are not quite natural, and talk too epigrammatically for musicians. But if we except these faults, and the slight touch of improbability about it, the story is a decidedly readable one, and should be so to musicians, with its emotional tendencies and descriptions.