Ralph; or, St. Sepulchre's and St. Stephen's. By Arthur Arnold.
(Tinsley Brothers.)—Confirmed devourers of novels seem for the most part to require nothing but an easily written narrative abounding in incident. This Mr. Arnold gives, and there is, therefore, no reason why he should not obtain a fair number of readers. The story itself is a tissue of the wildest improbabilities. If, howover, as we imagine, this is a first effort, it will be easy for Mr. Arnold to correct this fault, and greater experience will remove the entire ignorance of life which is betrayed in almost every page. The great obstacle to the writer's ever becoming a good novelist is that ho seems to have no power of pourtraying character. The learned and rather pedantic old clergyman has no other way of manifesting those weaknesses than by always speaking in language which is an overdrawn parody of Dr. Johnson's written style. The very sharp Old Bailey lawyer Wragley lends Major Evelyn 5,000L on the faith of his being entitled to a large estate at his brother's death, but does not inquire where the brother lives or where the estate is situated, and takes the Major's word for the fact that he has no nephews. We are also expected to believe that it is impossible to discover the elder brother of an officer in the army because he has changed his name, although he is a country gentleman living on his estate, and was formerly a statesman of great notoriety. These are also fair specimens of the sort of incident of which the story is composed.. The composition is very easy and flowing.
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