30 AUGUST 1879, Page 21

The Swintona of Wandale. By J. Crawford Scott. (Chapman and

Hall.)—This pleasant, crisply written story is merely a too lengthy variation on the old theme, "Love is the best phy- sician." There is little plot, and that little is indistinct. The pleasantness of the book is of a side-winded kind, contributed chiefly by the author's remarks, and by tone and atmosphere. The young ladies would be more attractive if they did not use slang phrases in their talk, and the novel is at least one volume too long.