The Victors. By Robert Barr. (Methuen and Co. Cs.)— It
is like passing from twilight in the forest to gaslight in the street to go from The Labyrinth to The Victors. "I Romance of Yesterday Morning and This Afternoon" is Mr. Barr's description of his book, and it is not a bad one. The material is American city life up to date,— the struggle for dollars, sharp practice, bribery, smartness and corruption,." Tammany," "Christian Science," and something better than all this. There are fine characters among the per- sonages, and in some characters that are not quite fine the human mixture of good and bad is admirably rendered. Patrick filagnire is a creature full of humour and pathos. Politically he has no conscience, but he is the most loyal of friends, and also the best of husbands. The fault of the book is an excess of detail. It requires close reading, and even when read closely it does not explain itself till near the middle,—and it runs to five hundred and sixty-seven pages.
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