29 MARCH 1890, Page 26

Two Pardons. By Henry Scott Vine. 3 vols. (Ward and

Downey.)—When Mr. Vine gets fairly under weigh, he has, we find, a good story to tell, and can tell it in an interesting way. But the three-volume form is, at least from the literary point of view, a mistake. If the author had compressed the book into the "shilling shocker" size, the tale might well have been a greater success than under present circumstances it is likely to be. As it is, incidents and descriptions are spun out to a most un- necessary length. The election scene and the trial scene, for instance, would have been better compressed into single chapters.