Morning Grey. By "U. M." 3 vols. (Ward and Downey.)—The
novel opens with a very realistic description of a foreign boarding. school, a description which "G. M." must, we think, have drawn from personal experience. Two of the scholars are Josephine Barron and Rome St. Just, two girls whose characters, shallow and selfish in the one case, deep and genuine in the other, are contrasted here, and indeed, in the following scenes of the story, with mach skill. Josephine is a great beauty and a good match, and takes away from her friend the heart of her lover,—not a very great possession, but still something which it was not pleasant to lose. This is the chief event of the story, though there is a compensation,—itself, too, of not more than moderate value,—reserved for the injured Rome. The tale is not as good as the manner of telling. This is characterised by a certain not ungentle cynicism which makes the book quite entertain- ing reading. "Janus," so jovial in company, so bitter in the bosom of his family ; Beaumont, the false lover, with his easy, polished selfishness, and a number of minor characters, are drawn with a satire that is not less effective because it is not too bitter. "U. M." does not make the mistake of putting too much into her pictures. And there is a certain nobility about Rome which shows that her cynical mood does not imply a disbelief in goodness.
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