5 MARCH 1892, Page 24

Mariam. By Horace Victor. (Macmillan.)—Mr. Horace Victor

tells in a somewhat cumbrous style (as in the sentences on pp. 22-23, beginning with: " It is the impression ") an interesting story. Christopher Lanxon, a young doctor of a roving turn, being surgeon on board a steamer that carries pilgrims from Bassorah to Jeddah, falls in with a certain Mariam, as also with her lover Ismar. A game of cross-purposes follows. Mariam loves the, young Englishman ; nor does he, though engaged to an English maiden, and, on the whole, faithful to his engagement, escape wholly unscathed by the charms of the Arabian Princess. The whole is a singularly vivid picture of Oriental life, and the characters of the story have a rare vivacity and colour about them.