28 MARCH 1874, Page 22

By No Fault of Their Own. By Miss Tailor. 3

vols. (Tinsley Brothers.) —A tedious story this, of the love affairs of two young ladies, a third to whom we are first introduced being happily married before the first -volume is much more than half over. Each of the two has two lovers, and each takes an interminably long time—at least, it seems long in the pages of a book—before they are happily disposed. But the love-making is, anyhow, better than the tragedy which Miss Telfor introduces by way of a change. The death of Ida is not only a painful scene, for which, as it does not in any way help forward the story, there is no good cause, but it is so described as to be a grave offence against art. We would not have readers think that Miss Teller's writing has no merits. It is, in fact, sufficiently natural and, occasionally, even readable, but nine hundred closely printed pages about the very little that she has to tell us pass all endurance. Her book weighs more than three pounds; we might have put up with, say, three ounces.