Captain Masters's Children. By Thomas Hood. Three vols. (Samp- son
Low, Son, and Marston.)—A novel above the average, but disfigured by the choice of the principal male character. It is called Captain Masters's Children because he had but ono—to speak of—a daughter who becomes a great actress. The other daughter might just as well be struck out of the dramatis persona:. There is, however, an adopted son, and the story is the record of Nelly Masters's infatuation for him—a. mere hound—a mixture of selfishness and weakness, who commits embezzlement and is not even ashamed of it, who has not a spark of gratitude, who marries Nelly for her money, and then when he un- expectedly comes into a fortune tuns away from her with a discarded mistress of at least two other men. Of course there have been instances in which pure and good women have doted on such beings, but we can- not help thinking that it is not a proper subject for art. Such a spectacle must be painful, not to say revolting, and art should aim at giving pleasure. Mr. Hood, however, with a well-chosen subject, could, we, think, write a good novel. Mrs. Percy Graham is a capital sketch.
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