Alter Ego. By Austen Pember. (J. and R. Maxwell.)—This is
a powerful story, turning on the tragical situation of a man who is bound professionally to hold up high ideals to his fellows and is conscious of being himself absolutely unworthy. The Legh Murray,. or Francis Hope, who tells the story of his life in these pages (the Brat is his real name, the second that of the man whom he personates) is a rather pitiful rascal, who would in real life, we should say, have wanted the courage to carry out such a fraud. The plot, too, is somewhat entangled ; and it is difficult to imagine how the scheme escaped shipwreck. Still, there is much that is striking in Alter Ego. May we ask, by the way, whether an educated man, as the patron of a living may be presumed to be, would have used the expression, "I have had the pleasure, unbeknown to you, of hearing you Preach it" ? We must not forget to mention a vigorous caricature of the "cram. mer " system in an account of the establishment of Messrs. Spoonbill and Tomes—a firm in which Mr. Spoonbill blarneys the parents, and Mr. Tomes, a man of many oaths, does the teaching.
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