24 FEBRUARY 1883, Page 23

Nadine. By Mrs. Campbell Freed. (Chapman and Hall.)—The career of

Nadine is stated to be founded on fact ; but even remember- ing this, and acknowledging that it is an unusual career, and fall of a certain tragic interest, we cannot believe that each a story is a desirable one to tell, especially to young readers. The last lesson one would wish girls to learn would be that their emotions are not under their own control ; and although novels are intended for recreation, and one that is in two thin volumes has a very innocent appearance, yet the kind of life depicted hero is one to sigh over, rather than to be amused with. The heroine seems never to have enjoyed, even in her youth, a period of light-hearted innocence.