The Circuit Rider. By Edward Eggleston. (Routledge.) This, as may
be guessed from the title, is a tale of the preachers of Methodism in the Western States of America, in days before the West had begun to rival the East in civilisation. We expect from the author of the "Hoosier Schoolmaster" both humour and pathos, and we are not dits appointed. How Morton Goodwin, the hero, a young backwoodsman, wild but not vicious, is brought under the converting influence of Methodist preaching, how he sacrifices his love to his new convictions, how the haughty young Virginian girl who had repudiated her fanatical
lover is brought herself to own the power which she had despised, is told in a way which the reader will follow with unfailing interest Then there is the powerful episode of the young enthusiast, Kik°. Lumsden, himself also sacrificing love to faith, but not, like his friend Morton, rewarded in this world. The literary ability of the book is conspicuous. We are disposed, indeed, to criticise the dialect of the Irish schoolmaster, which seems to us—though, indeed, we do not pro- fess to have any special acquaintance with the subject—far too difficult and obscure. There are Scotch dialects—the Aberdonian, for instance— which are very hard for an Englishman to follow, but wo have never observed the same of Irish, as written by those who may be supposed to be masters of it. And some of the sarcastic observations, wherein: the devotion of the past generation is contrasted with the vanity and self-seeking of the present, might have been spared. They are pro- bably unjust, and they certainly jar on the feelings of the reader. When a writer knows how to move to admiration, pity, and wrath, he makes a great mistake if he tries to be, or even if he succeeds in being, smart.
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