Shoddy : a Yorkshire Tale of Home. 3 vols. By
Arthur Wood. (Tinsley Brothers.)—We have not yet got over, and with the dismal length of the great Tichbot ne trial in our remembrance, shall not easily get over, a prejudice against a story which introduces a " elaimant.". There are other weak points in Shoddy. The device, for instance, by which Matthew Worsciale is brought to poverty is not very ingenious- Practically, a man always can insure his mill. It is a more serious fault that there is a great amount of digressive and discursive matter— such, for instance, as the account of how two very vulgar people, Mrs. Dingwall and her daughter, fared in their sea-side lodgings—which is quite out of place, hinders rather than advances the action of the story,. anctis not by any means edifying or pleasant to read. Still, the novel is readable. " Dolly," Matthew Worsdale's daughter, is an attractive picture, as is also, in her way, her less worthy sister Priscilla. Joe Boothroyd, too, though his transformation comes from the region of romance rather than of reality, is an interesting personage. One word of censure we must write. Mr. Wood is rather too fond of exercising a somewhat dull wit on Scripture personages. Let him, at all events, be better acquainted with his subject than to suppose that Jacob served his long servitude for Rebecca.
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