The Cobra Diamond. By Arthur Lillie. 3 vols. (Ward and
Downey.)—It is impossible to guess with any assurance of having hit the mark, what was the intention of Mr. Arthur Lillie when he sat down to write this eccentric and incomprehensible story. The most plausible hypothesis seems to be that it is in .reality an elaborate burlesque, and that the objects of the author's satire are the style of Mr. George Meredith, which—consciously or uncon- sciously—he parodies with a good deal of cleverness, and the substance of those latter-day romances which deal with Esoteric Buddhism, magic, clairvoyance, astral bodies, and all the other hocus-pocus of fashionable superstition. If we are right in thinking that this was Mr. Lillie's idea, it is carried out with considerable skill, and with a fair amount of that special kind of humour which makes burlesque effective. Some of the passages which we take to be hits at the literary eccentricities of Mr. George Meredith, are very amusing ; but a burlesque in three volumes is too much of a good thing, and the reckless piling-up of ridiculous incredibilities in the latter half of the story becomes decidedly tedious. If, however, we are altogether wrong, and the book, instead of being a burlesque, is intended to be taken seriously, that intention will certainly not be fulfilled. Seriousness in the presence of such a tale and such a telling is an impossible emotion.
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