Lady Blue-Beard. By the Author of " %it and Zoe."
2 vols. (Blackwood and Sons.)—There is a great deal of smartness in the writing of this book ; in fact, there is far too much. There is a story, and the story is worth telling ; but it takes a most inordi- nately long time before we get to it ; and really the repartees, more or less brilliant, of Mr. Hicks, who tells the tale, and is in some sort the hero, and Mrs. Fonblanque, who is most undoubtedly the heroine, have a tendency to tire one out. Nor are we much interested in the Sheik, who reminds us very much of Hadji Baba in England, or in the Nun, or in the Captain, or the mysterious Mr. Wylie. There is some picturesque sketching of scenery in the Persian Gulf, and a general impression of cleverness in the dialogue; but the book is decidedly bizarre and, on the whole, unsatisfactory.
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