24 DECEMBER 1870, Page 22

writes, as long as he can keep his hands off

the Pope and the priests, always pleasantly end sometimes very well. The Siren is, we are inclined to say, too long. It would have been bettor if shortened by a third. We shonld not have complained even if it had been compressed into a single volume. The incident of the story is a murder ; its interest turns upon the question,—" who is the murderer ?" Mr. Trol- lope indeed adds a supplementary interest, for, there being two women in the case, he makes his readers doubt which of the two has met with a violent end ; and makes them doubt, we must say, by a questionable artifice. We cannot see any adequate reason for the exclamation, which is meant to put us on a wrong scent. But we consider the tale as dis- tinctly a success. Both the scenery and the characters are presented with force and distinctness. Indeed, in his drawing of the old Marquis,