Pharisees. By Mrs. J. Bennett-Edwards. 3 vols. (J. and R.
Max- well.)—The " Pharisees " against whom the author is so severe, are worshippers of social distinctions, who will not pardon " Star," the wife of a certain Guy, a county magnate, who has had the im- prudence to marry an actress. Guy turns out something of a Pharisee himself, for he drives his wife away by letting her know that he thinks her a bar to his social and political success. We do not know what is the right term for the opposite of "Pharisee." We are to find the thing, however, in Guy's brother Errol, whose chief moral distinction seems to be that be falls wildly in love with his brother's wife. Does Mrs. Bennett-Edwards know that there is a very ugly name sometimes given to such a passion ? We can call the story nothing but repulsive. The carelessness with which it is written is so extreme, that she actually makes some of her characters pick strawberries " as long as the heat permits," and then recline on a primrose-covered bank.
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