Saint Alice. By Edward Campbell Tainsh. (Hurst and Blackett.) —Mr.
Tainsh is one of those who write with ease. He has filled three volumes with matter which a terse and compact writer would have got into one. His novel is therefore somewhat tedious. The story, a very simple one, is that of a girl's life from early childhood to her marriage. She is educated by a clever bachelor friend of her dead father's, and her fresh spirit has a most beneficial influence over all who have anything to do with her. Freed from the association and down-dragging example of common-place women who have no higher ideal than a fine house in Belgravia and a good position in what they call "the world," she grows up into a noble woman, with strong affections and unwarped intelligence. The tone of the book is excellent, and we are sorry Mr. Tainsh has not worked out his main idea with more elaborate art, and less of mere diffuseness. Saint Alice cannot possibly hurt anybody, and if some of its young-lady readers learn thoroughly the lesson it tries to teach, which probably is too much to expect, they will do rather more with their lives than they otherwise would have done.
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