14 MARCH 1896, Page 26

The Unwritten Law. By Blanche Loftus Tottenham. (A. and C.

Black.)—We find in this story much of the power that we should expect in a book written by Miss Tottenham. She has studied the Irish character with much care and to no small pur_ pose, especially as it has been affected by the agitation of the last quarter of a century. And what a difference there is between the novel of this and of that time, between the novels of Lever and such as these that Miss Tottenham and Miss Lawless give us. We are not wholly satisfied with the way in which the plot is worked out. Surely the typical Irish girl, with the best qualities that make her countrywomen the admiration of the world, would not have acted as she did.