Sir Victor's Choice. By Annie Thomas. Three vols. (John Max-
well and Co.)—The author of this novel seems to us to have every qualification requisite for success except good taste. No one can deny her cleverness—that the characters are distinctly conceived, and the
tory probable and even interesting ; but it is spoiled by a certain air of knowingness, almost of slang, which pervades the whole work. There is not one pleasant character in the story. Sir Victor, the hero, is amiable and manly ; but who can respect a man who lets himself be entrapped into a marriage with an actress of bad character, ten years older than himself, when he is all the time really in love with his cousin ? That cousin, the heroine, is at least boisterous and unfeminine ; her sister is worldly, and a schemer ; and every other character in the book is either weak, selfish, or wicked. Still, though unpleasant characters, they are not over-drawn, and all one can do is to regret that Sir Victor's circle was so very unattractive. The heaviest charge, how- ever, we have to bring against the author is that her sympathies seem to be mostly with a certain Claude Ogilvie, who, beneath the exterior of a military puppy conceals the heart of a scoundrel ; and the worst point in the style is the perpetual affectation of knowingness about dogs and horses, which is only an affectation.
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