Cousin Simon. By the Hon. Mrs. Robert Marsham. (Chapman and
Hall.)—We seem to be returning to the era of quiet stories. Simple and natural studies of human life, its trials and compensations, are beginning to put in a mild and not unwelcome appearance, after the long reign of sensation, sensuousness, irreverence, and vulgarity, in all but the highest ranks of fiction. Mrs. Marsham's novelette belongs to the now order ; it is a quiet story, and it is in one volume. There is no high-flown romance about it, neither is there any of the slang or of the animalism of the period. Cousin Simon is not a fault- less monster, and "Little Matty " is a: very well drawn, or rather im- plied character. The tone of the story is wholesome, its morality is excellent, the strong, sincere, practical piety that pervades it is of tonic quality, and it is written in good English. We find it difficult to believe that the secret of the family disgrace, a cir- cumstance which must necessarily have been known to so many persons with whom "Little Matty," the heroine of the tale, was brought in contact from her childhood, could have been kept from her knowledge until the exact moment at which it suits the writer's pur- pose that it should be revealed ; but this difficulty is veiled with sufficient ingenuity to prevent the reader's being irritated by it into impatience of the working-out of the plot of a story, which, though not powerful, is pleasing.
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