24 APRIL 1897, Page 11

Sootlandfar Ever. By Lieutenant-Colonel Percy Groves. (Rout- ledge and Sons.)—It

is a long time before we get to Scotland in this story. The hero, when he is a boy, falls into the hands of a French privateersman, and has some very interesting adventures in consequence. Mixed up with these are the fortunes of the D'Esterre family (M. D'Esterre is a teacher at Elizabeth College, and has two daughters, one of whom is pursued by the jealous hatred of a step-mother, who more than justifies the epithets of saeva, perfida, which the Gradus used to bestow on noverca). On p. 295 the hero, after a preliminary apprenticeship in a Militia regiment, is appointed to the Gordon Highlanders, and "Scotland for Ever" has the remainder of the volume. The not very interest- lag campaign in Ireland in 1798 is the principal subject.