16 AUGUST 1884, Page 27

Mary Elwood : a Novel. By J. M. Barker. (Remington

and Co.) —This is a harmless, dull production. It may possibly give invete- rate novel-readers, to whom nothing comes amiss, some pleasure ; what satisfaction it can have afforded the writer it is difficult to con- ceive—the company she had to keep for so long must have been exceedingly dull. We do not remember to have seen so much flat dialogue in a novel for a long time. The story is, however, strictly moral, and very edifying on the point of the miseries and misfortune of bad temper; a point that can hardly be urged too strongly on the attention of " persons about to marry," both in novels and in real life.