CURRENT LITERATURE.
Juanita,. By J. Fogerty. 3 vols. (Ward and Downey.)—Mr. Fogerty's novel has for its prevailing background the wild scenery .of the west coast of Ireland, though in the third volume we are taken first to Spain and then to a Mediterranean island, where the hero, who has been abducted by a rascally Greek, lies a captive invalid. In the hands of any but the most skilful craftsman, this shifting about of the action must needs interfere with artistic unity, and in mere narrative construction Mr. Fogerty has not got rid of the fumbling of the 'prentice hand, Juanita is deficient in what painters call " composition ; " it wants pulling together, and therefore the interest is not concentrated, and there is even a suspicion of dullness. Curiously enough, though the locality and several of the characters are Irish, and though Mr. Fogerty, if we may judge from his name, is certainly an Irish- man, there is not a single passage in the book which can be described as humorous, and this lack does something to deprive the novel of positive charm. There is good material in Juanita, 'but it roads as if Mr. Fogerty had written right on without troubling to plan out his work beforehand, and if this be really his method, he will do well to change it.
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