My Insect Queen. By the Author of "Margaret's Engagement." 3
vols. (Bentley.)—The autobiographical form is, on the whole, not an eligible one for a novel ; at all events, it requires to be managed with much skill. One essential is that the imaginary narrator should excite some kind of sympathy in his readers. Dr. Guy Crofton, who tells the story of "My Insect Queen," is a vain old fool, who is quite capable on occasion of being very selfish, and even dishonourable. Perhaps, if we except one or two manifest caricatures, he is the most contemptible person in the book, but there is nothing very admirable or engaging about any of them. If the reader cares to hear how they gossiped and flirted, how they were at cross purposes among themselves, and how they got to be fairly well sorted at the last, he may find it told here in a fairly natural and spirited way.
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