Fools of Fortune. By Frederic Boyle. 3 vols. (Chapman and
Hall.) —The raison d'être of these volumes is manifestly tho story of the filibuster Walker, whose daring efforts to conquer Central America, and not unmerited fate, attracted much interest some years ago, and are now, it is probable, remembered but by few. The hero goes off to join the army of the adventurer, and his experiences are related with no little fire and brilliancy. Nor is there any want of graphic power in the description of life and scenery in tropical America. The heroine, Mariquita, for such we must call her, as she is distinctly the most in- teresting character in the book, is a somewhat daring but successful sketch after nature. To draw the belle sauvage from the life is a perilous task, and Mr. Boyle must be congratulated on accomplishing it without offence. Had we, indeed, nothing but the American part of the novel to criticise, we should have nothing but praise for it. The English part is loss agreeable, and we think, inferior in ability. There is a plot, which may be called entangled, rather than complicated. A number of most repulsive characters are introduced to us, and the writer chronicles their proceedings with a cynical tone which is only too natural in such company. Here, again, we have sketches which look very much like life, in the financier, and the theatrical manager, and the wicked colonel, but the life is not that which produces edifying models. We infinitely prefer the adventurers and beauties on the other side of the Atlantic. Mr. Boyle, however, has certainly written a novel considerably above the average. We do not know whether we can give more emphatic praise than by saying that it is not a novel to be skipped.
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