in the early years of the nineteenth century during tho
adminis-
tration of General Jackson. The scene is chiefly laid in West Tennessee, on an estate called Belle Plain, and the pictures of life among the white population in those days show that law and order were in a very primitive and chaotic condition. There aro abduc- tions and plots and adventures of many sorts, but the real charm of tho story comes from the author's character drawing. Tho Judge himself is a delightful figure, though it is hard to believe that an habitual drunkard could before his actual reformation pull
himself together and present so dignified a figure as does Judge Slocum Price at a crisis. Mahaffy and Bob Yancy are also extremely engaging people, and the family of Cavendish, who
chiefly reside on a raft in the river, are not the least attractive of the personages. Cavendish believes himself to be an English earl, and when he remembers so to do gives himself considerable airs on the subject ; but he is surpassed in charm by his wife, who does not let the honour of being a countess interfere with her enjoyment of her clay pipe, and who brings up her family of unruly children with unremitting attention. The love story is quite sufficient as a thread on which to string the incidents, but it is for the pictures of life, not for the sentimental interest, that the reader will enjoy the novel.
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