Mary. By Mrs. Molesworth. (Macmillan).—Probably this new story will be
pronounced by critical readers to be slighter in construction than some of its predecessors, which tempted Mr. Swinburne to declare that, among living female writers, Mrs. Molesworth stands easily first for bright and sweet invention, and for a love which is "thoroughly according to knowledge." But it is as exquisite in its way as even Herr Baby. And yet nothing could be slenderer than the plot of Ho/ey. Mary is a child of the " old-fashioned " sort, into whose life there enters a baby by way of a birthday present. The only incident in the story which can be at all considered of a sensational character is the running away of the dog 'Fuzzy,' who has been harnessed to the perambu- lator containing Baby Dolly. Then there is some talk of the baby being ill; but it is nothing more than talk, for we read on the second-last page that "when Baby Dolly had got quite well, and was able to go out in her carriage once more, Mamma came with them again for a great treat, and ' Fuzzy ' came too." It only remains to be said that Artie and Leigh, who are Mary's nursery companions, are quite as well drawn as she is herself.
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