Ethne, by Mrs. E. M. Field (Gardner, Barton, and Co.),
is an interesting tale of the settlement of Ireland under Cromwell's regime. Ethne is the daughter of Sir Gerald O'Connor, whose castle and lands have been assigned to Roger Stand-fast-on-the-rock, one of Cromwell's captains. The stern Puritan and the gentle Papist girl soon fall in love with each other, and a Bible, lent by Roger, wins the young lady over to Protestantism. After going through terrible troubles, in- cluding the burning of Lara Castle and the transportation of the O'Connor family to Connaught, the lovers are married ; and here it would be well if the story ended. For their married life in Roger's Gloucestershire home is very unhappy, and makes very unpleasant reading, without adding at all to the interest of the story, which is told in the shape (almost always, we venture to think, a mistake), of extracts from the diaries of the two principal characters. There is much in the first and better part of the book which reminds the reader of "Woodstock." The hot-tempered old Cavalier father and his sweet daughter, the stern but conscientious Puritan and the hypocritical sensualist Roundhead subordinate, are common to both. But we greatly doubt whether the distant civilities between enemies, which are natural in "Woodstock," could ever have been possible on Irish soil, and in the shape of the courtesies which pass between Sir Gerald's family and Captain Stand-fast.
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