It Might Have Been. By Emily Sarah Holt. (John F.
Shaw and Co.)—This is a " Story of the Gunpowder Plot," and deals, therefore, with questions which are still burning, always a dis- advantage to a work of this kind. Miss Holt always studies a subject with most conscientious care ; indeed, we know of no one whose historical fiction is more trustworthy ; but, like other people, she has views and prepossessions. Her view of Garnet will not be accepted by all, though it cannot be denied that much may be urged for it, and that probably more might be but for the fact, which she mentions in her appendix, that the adverse evidence has been tampered with. But the statement that the low estimate of the clergy in the seventeenth century was "the result partly of the gross ignorance, partly of the evil lives of the pre-Reforma- tion priests," requires, we fancy, evidence that Miss Holt would find it difficult to produce. Apart from this, we have here a well- constructed and well-told tale, with details worked up in the accurate manner which we expect from the author.
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