Husband and Wife. By Marie Connor. 3 vols. (F. V.
White.)— There never was a more unlucky piece of advice than that which suggested to novelists that they should begin their story with the marriage of their hero and heroine. When we find this done, we have reason to anticipate mischief. So it is here. Edward Gal- braith and Margaret Allingham marry under circumstances which seem to promise well for their future happiness. But the moralist who tells their story detects a fault, the "absence of that grain of earthliness which must leaven the lump of human love to make it enduring and unchangeable." It is probable that Miss Connor is not acquainted with the " Ethics " of Aristotle, but she has nevertheless given a quite surprising illustration of that philosopher's theory of virtue being a mean between two extremes. Edward Galbraith begins by erring on the side of defect, of what the Stagyrite calls avatolnata, insensibility, a somewhat rare fault, as has been pointed out by Aristotle's critics. Then he goes to the other extreme, for he elopes with a beautiful widow. Miss Connor is not more satisfied with him than she was before. "Not truly in passion, but in higher and purer spheres of feeling lie the things that make life worth living." Finally, he repents and comes back to his wife. All this is but commonplace stuff, and not very wholesome. We must use a stronger expression for the conduct of M. Flamant, the widow's brother. His brutal indifference to his sister's shame is nothing less than revolting. We must own that the clergyman, for whom Miss Connor has such contempt, and the village people generally, with their bigoted preference for respectability, have something. in their favour. The author can tell a love-story not only without offence, but with a certain charm. Let her be content in future to follow the beaten track, and marry her hero and heroine on her last page.
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