Btaaksome Dene : a Sea Tale. By Hugh M. Walmsley.
3 vols. (Bentley.)—The author follows, or has followed, as we gather from the title-page, the military profession; but in writing his "sea tale" he is as technical as any sailor could be, and more so than they generally are. Possibly this is a characteristic of landsmen writing about the sea. Fenimore Cooper, for instance, is more technical than Marryat. We must confess our inability to criticise this part of the story, and our readers, bearing this confession in mind, must not attach too much weight to our opinion that it is somewhat:r.tedious. On the whole, the story is fairly interesting ; now and then it even rises to, or at least approaches, the level of the exciting. The adventures of the Corsican bandit or guerrilla, or whatever he ought to be called, in particular, are well told. It is a pity that the author should have introduced the im- probable incident of his recognising a long-lost sister in a girl brought up in an English fishing village. But the Corsican outdoes this by turning schoolmaster in Dumfries. shire, whore he ends his days in the odour of sanctity. Might we suggest to our author that a shepherd lad in this same county -who talks in this fashion, "He's just no that cannie. I'm thinking he's frae awa Sooth there, and I'll just be hitting the hillside atween us," would. not be likely to say, "Dim Sassenach " to a_stranger?
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