Whom Nature Leadeth. By G. Noel Hatton. 3 vols. (Longrnans.)
—Mr. Hatton, following the custom of tragedians, has mixed with the somewhat tragical story which forms the main action of his drama what may be called a comic underplot. We must own that this is the only part of Whom Nature Leadeth that we have read with entire satisfaction. The boisterous sisterhood of the Meredith family makes really excellent fun, which rises to its height when the curate, after surmounting difficulties which are very humorously described, makes a proposal to one of them. The tragedy itself, if we may so call it, we do not care about. - The story wants cohesion ; our attention is distracted by irrelevant issues. When it should be concentrated on the heroine, it is called off to personages who might, with no small advantage, have been dispensed with. Some, at least, of the faults are faults on the right side. The writer has', anyhow, abundance of material. He feels that he has something to Bay, and is in too great a hurry to say it all. But there is distinct evidence of literary power, -and promise that something much better may be accomplished here- after.
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