Hilda: a Love - Story. By F. L. Carson. (Remington and Co.)—A
story in one volume of the little loves, little worries, little mysteries, and little excitements of a stupid little country town called Snoreton, a- story, which to be written at all successfully, should be written sympathetically, that is to say, the writer should not show how he de- spises the trivialities he relates, or the people engaged in them. The " peculiar and deeply-rooted points in the local character " are just those which require appreciation and good-humoured treatment. If it was true of Snoreton, " The male youth of this country town go elsewhere to make their plunge into the vortex of life, excepting the few who succeed to the businesses and professions, leaving behind them a considerable portion of idle and dressed-up young women, who are only restrained from the delights and perils of adventure [!] by the scarcity of objects to reciprocate," if this was true, we have a right to ask why our author did not go elsewhere for his characters? It is fair to him and them, however, to say that they are not as improper as the above extract would suggest,—they are only very vulgar and stupid. The names of the personages are very ill-contrived ; we have Mrs. Gossip, Mrs. Incense, Mr. Fillup, Captain Nondescript, Captain Longago, the Duke of Rentrolle, Lord Liberalle, Mrs. Wayward, Sir Simon Bureaucrat, and his secretary, Mr. Quill. There is really no fun in all this, it would indeed be a serious drawback to a good novel. As it is, it merely gives the finishing-touch to a very poor one indeed.
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