On the Banks of the Ouse. By Emma Marshall. (Seeley
and Co.) —This story is, we think, one of Mrs. Marshall's happiest efforts. The scene is laid in the little Bedfordshire town of Olney, about a hundred years ago. The poet Cowper appears in it, but almost as a persona mute. There is, indeed, something very pathetic in his figure, as, in some mood of the depression which was deepening upon him, it crosses the scene. John Newton playa a part, though a minor part, in the story. One of the objects with which it is written is, indeed, to vindicate his character, or rather his theology, from the charge of having contributed to the religious madness of the poet. This, however, is not refuted, as Mrs. Marshall thinks, either by an occasional pleasantry that passed between the two, or by Newton's affectionate care of the poet. It is more to the point that Cowper had exhibited the tendency long before. Still, one cannot bat think that it would have been well for him if he had not been brought into contact with a divine of high Calvinistic opinions. The story is skilfully contrived. The son of a brutal, hard•drinking Bedfordshire squire turns to better things, and finds both truth and happiness in the new life which he chooses. The story of hie courtship and married life is full of interest, while the figures of Brasilia Allen, of Katherine, the maid of the mill, with her unhappy love, and poor Paul Chamberlain, so distracted between this world, in the shape of the girl he loves, and the next, are picturesque and lifelike. The legal element in the story is, as usual, a little doubtful. Neither the squire nor the intruding nephew could have imagined for a moment that a man can cut off an entail without the consent of the heir.
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