Broad Outlines of Long Years in Australia. By Mrs. Henry
Jones, of Binnum Binnum. (S. Tinsley and Co.)—Our first surprise upon opening this volume is to find that it is a novel, our next, upon perusing it, is that any lady of the common-sense which Mrs. Jones evidently possesses, and of the tact we are ready to give her credit for, can suppose for a moment that her enterprise, of giving information on colonial affairs in such a guise, can succeed. Of course we do not say that success is impossible of achievement, because with genius all things are possible, in a literary sense. But how can we do with passages like this in a novel ?—" The Town Hall [of Melbourne] is a splendid building, capable of holding 4,000 persons, contains a fine organ, almost too powerful for the size of the hall, and is often thronged with enthusiastic audiences who assemble to welcome, listen to, and almost worship the European stars who," dm. We trust that Mrs. Jones will take in good part our one recommendation, to keep her story well together and put her statistics into an appendix. The printing and general get-up of this volume are very creditable.
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