24 JULY 1869, Page 23

All But Lost. By G. A. Henty. 3 vols. (Tinsley.)—All

But Lost is a good tale of its kind. It has, we believe, been published before in some periodical. There, doubtless, many readers, not very careful of art, who do not require characters profoundly studied, or a plot that does not offend against probability, will have followed it from month to month with eager interest. Mr. Henty introduces a multitude of characters, familiar figures all of them, and, as figures, well drawn. There is the industrious worthy young man, whom fortune properly rewards; and the idle worthy young man, whose virtues have to be brought out by adversity ; the villain, a very deep-dyed villain indeed, who raises the blood to the proper boiling pitch ; the rich, irascible uncle, the long-lost heir, and the other necessary personages. The villain's machinations are a little too audacious ; deeds of violence we can accept as probable ; indeed, no state of society is free from them ; but these plots, wherein men intercept letters, pass off their misdoings on others, ezc., pass our belief. Mr. Henty gives us some very decided imitations of Mr. Dickens. Carry reminds us very strongly of Emily in David Copperfteld and the resemblance between the visits of the detective to the dustman and his wife and a similar scene in Bleak House is almost too close.