Rich; or, the Becidiviste : a Romance of Australian Life.
By David Falk. (Trischler and Co.)—Recidiviste, the second title of Rick, is the word colloquially used to signify a French convict deported to the penal settlement of Caledonia. These convicts frequently escape to the various Australian Colonies, much to the annoyance of the Colonists; and in the preface the author suggests that a strong protest should be made against this convict settlement, as was formerly made against Botany Bay. The story shows plainly, in the person of M. Jacques Rang, that a recidiviste is a most dangerous and unpleasant acquaintance, whose polite French manners hide a bloodthirsty villain. The story of Rick (an abbreviation for Rachel) is interesting and well told ; it belongs to that period when a story had a plot consisting of a mystery, a villain or two, an injured heroine and her chain- pion, and always ended happily. But, unfortunately, the style of the writing is an imitation of Dickens, and a great master should never be copied. As the book belongs to our own time, and is, moreover, called "A Romance of Australia," we are disappointed not to find more local colour ; but the child-nation, like the child-man, is often imitative before it is original. Rick, whose identity is the subject of the mystery, is a pretty character, especially as a child ; indeed, the children are all delightful. But there is one false note in the book, when her supposed brother, Philip Masters—who has given up loafing ways in order to take care of his little sister till she is grown up—
finding he is not her brother, makes love to her, and she accepts him as her lover, though she is already engaged to an excellent young man. Happily, Philip dies from the bad effects of being knocked on the head by the villain, and Rick comes into a pro- perty and eventually marries the unselfish lover ; but the episode jars against good taste, and could easily have been avoided. More- over, it causes the author to give us this old-fashioned sentiment, belonging to the " Keepsake " age of sensibility:—" Twice and sometimes three times a year, King [her husband] takes her down to Melbourne to utter a whispered prayer and shed a tear over Philip's grave." Evidently the tear was always ready, whether the pair found it convenient to go twice or three times to the capital of Victoria.
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