Medea's Island. By Esmb Stuart. (Sampson Low, Marston, and Co.)—This
is a powerful and pathetic story. Claudea (the name " Claudia" pronounced, after local fashion, with an emphasis on the " e '') is a striking personality. She has a passionate love of nature, and finds its gratification in the rugged little island which her father has made over to her. Another notable character is her preacher-lover. The contrast between the man's earnestness—impatient as it is of what he cannot but regret as the lower aspirations of the woman whom he loves— and Claudea's larger and more liberal nature, is finely drawn. A more sombre element is introduced in the person of Clandea'a
brother, Morgan; while the deaf-mute, Davy, is an eminently pathetic figure. There are some vigorous descriptions of scenery.
Possibly the ending was inevitable ; such a nature as the heroine's can hardly find a happy fate to suit it ; but it diminishes the reader's pleasure.
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