23 JANUARY 1864, Page 22

The Old House in Crosby Square. By Henry Holt Two

volumes. (Sampson Low and Co.)--This is an attempt to unite a study of cha- racter with sensation ineidents, and not a very successful one. Stephen Thorpe, seeing his father brought to ruin by thriftless loans to ungrate- ful friends, falls into the opposite extreme, and while he builds up a great fortune harshly exacts his clue from every debtor. His only friend, William Osborne, becomes security for one of his clerks, and he sues Osborne on the clerk's making default. Of course Osborne dies in prison, his wife in poverty, and, of his children, the daughter COMM to want and the son to crime, and all the while old Stephen Thorpe fancies himself a model of justice. For the series of incidents by which Stephen is brought at dead of night into the midst of the gang of thieves of which young Osborne is captain, and the clerk, who was really inno- cent of robbing his master, a leading member, we must refer the reader to Mr. Hell But obviously the gang determine to murder Thorpe, and he is saved by young Osborne and a maid-servant, who turns out to be his sister. Thorpe dies repentant, and leaves the pair all his property. For a story of this kind there is a good deal too much description, though the description is good enough in its way, and the narrative shows very considerable power in the more exciting scenes. The character of Thorpe is not, perhaps, impossible, but is so improbable in its harshness as to be unsuited for delineation. The novelist is not tied down to the vertan, but he should never leave the verisimile.