27 JANUARY 1900, Page 12

Without a God. By a Singer from the South. (Kegan

Paul, Trench, and Co. 6s.)—This is a novel somewhat in the manner of Miss MarieCorelli, but written in verse. It would perhaps be more accurate to say, printed as verse, since beyond a general recurrence of rhythm and the insertion of rhymes, when rhyme happens to present itself, there is nothing to distinguish the phi asi, g k).A ordinary slipshod prose. For example :-

"The bull was fiercely bellowing And perilously near.

It was well I came so swiftly, He did seem bent on mischief, And that miserable parasol Enraged him, It was clear."

Taking the whole, not as poetry, but as a novel, it shows enough of that spasmodic energy, violent delineation of character, and reiteration of very familiar trains of thought (which the writer has no doubt rediscovered for himself or herself) to have stood an excellent chance of popularity had it been written as prose.