28 FEBRUARY 1874, Page 21

The Heir of Reddesmont. 3 vols. (S. Tinsley.)—It is only

too clear that the verdict of the jury will not put an end to the Tichborne Case. We shall be always having it served up again by the unhappy persons who, it seems, cannot sleep till they have written a novel. Hero we have a claimant, an heir, and the Jesuits. The writer, indeed, makes a new combination, for the real heir is a Jesuit. Nothing can exceed the absurdity of the plot except, perhaps, the tediousness of the story which is constructed upon it. As to the latter, it would be sufficient to extract a few pages, a course to which there are obvious objections which our readers will appreciate ; as to the former, let this proof suffice. The disappearance of the heir is thus accounted for. Mr. Reddesmont marries a second time, and the stop-mother ill-treats his

son :—" When he was five years old, his faithful nurse took him to Squire Torrans, saying that she would not leave him any longer at the Castle, to lose his life, and what was more precious than life. So the Squire redeemed the promise which he had made to the dying mother; he went with the boy abroad, and declared that he should be unknown at tho Castle until he had claimed it as his own." And after some angry words, Mr. Reddesmont submits! What a probable story ! And what a crop of Claimants we should have, if squires were to seek often thus to redress the wrongs of step-children