Pretty Miss Bellew. By Theo. Gift. 3 vols. (Bentley.)---This name
" Theo." challenges speculation. Are we to speak of " ho " or "she ? " And a novel must be worth something, if we think of asking the ques- tion. The style is masculine ; but when wo find Lady Margaret, in the midst of her anxiety, wiping off the rain from Kate's seal-skin jacket with her handkerchief, we have a truly feminine touch ; nor is it likely, on the other hand, that a man would suppose the police courts to have jurisdiction in cases of breach of promise of marriage, though this may bo a trap for simple critics. But whoever the author, the novel shows ability. The heroine has a certain injustice done to her by the title ; she is pretty, certainly, but she is much more, and when she unravels the tangled skein at last, she shows a real nobility of character. Clive Dundee, who may be called the hero, is not the striking personage thab he is meant to be. These wise, but cynical and somewhat disagreeable men, who fall as madly in love as if they were the greatest of fools, form a class with which we have become familiar in fiction. But Dick, the unworthy brother on whom Kato wastes such a treasure of sisterly devotion, is a capital ttudy ; and McKenzie and Mrs. Milbank are drawn with real subtlety, imposing at first on the reader with a show of strength and feeling that is not all a show, but discovering by degrees their real weakness and selfishness, yet not without keeping some regard and sympathy. Pretty Miss Bellew has appeared in Cassell's Magazine. It was therefore constructed, we suppose, to last for a year. It is a necessity that has seriously damaged it.
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