NovaLs.—A Woman's Heart. By Mrs. Alexander. 3 vols. (F. V.
White and Co.)—This is a powerful story, worthy of the author of "The Wooing o't," but painful to a degree. Lord de Walden leaves the wife whom he had once really loved, for an adventuress. The wife's endurance of her sorrow—for she will not sue for a divorce—the falling away of the husband from bad to worse under the evil influence to which he has subjected himself, are described with considerable force. Of course the situation is complicated by the passion which an old friend, himself an unsuccessful lover in former days, feels for Claire de Walden, and which the woman, though fighting resolutely against it, cannot help returning. This is not a situation which we care to read about, and we must own that we cannot understand what makes it so attractive to writers, and, it must be presumed, to readers ; but it is not in- adequately treated in A Woman's Heart. There is a son of the marriage, and he is made, in a very natural way, the turning- point of the struggle. The ddsousment of the story is managed with a good deal of skill, and the author has the good taste to leave to the imagination of the reader the possible happiness of the characters in whom he will be principally interested.—Hazel Pane. By Blanche Roosevelt. 3 vols. (Chap- man and Hall.)—This is another distasteful story, and much inferior, we think, to the one which has just been noticed. Miss Roosevelt relies on very staring colours for producing her effects. She introduces us to a scene which does not promise anything very disastrous. Two brothers meet after a long absence. One, it is true, is an unsuccessful and cynical man ; but the other seems all generosity and kindness. He is the wealthy host, it must be understood ; the other is the guest, coming to his home, after years of absence, in which he has met with nothing but failure. The guest turns out to be a villain and a forger ; the other, a profligate, who brings his mistress to wait on the girl, his brother's adopted daughter, whom he has taken into his house. Com- plications which it would be tedious to follow ensue, and of course there is a murder to finish up with. As Hazel Pane is written, in part at least, with the object of bringing about the institution of a Court of Criminal Appeal, the murder is very curiously contrived. We would ask the author, who was the " Virgin Queen " that held her Court in England in 1540 (p. 103), and why she calls the fees of an eminent barrister " fees simple" ? The only character in the book that has given us any pleasure to read about is the dog ' Roma.' The story of her faithful recollection of her dead master is truly pathetic.— Beatrice and Benedick. By Hawley Smart. 2 vols. (F. V. White.)— This is a plain, wholesome story, to which it will be no little relief to turn. A tale of military life, it is, for a wonder, not wholly concerned with flirting, dancing, and sport. The Crimean War comes in as an episode, and materially affects the fortunes of the heroes and heroines. One of the former is taken prisoner, and so varies his adventures in an interesting way. Beatrice and Benedick may be read with satisfaction, if not with any entrancing interest. —The New Rector. By Stanley J. Weyman. 2 vols. (Smith, Elder, and Co.)—This is a story of considerable merit, though scarcely equal to what we should expect from the author of " The House of the Wolf." A young parson receives a living by the mistake of the patron, who thinks that he is presenting an old college friend, the uncle of the young clergyman to whom, as being the sole owner of the name (for the uncle is dead), the offer naturally comes. The situation is curious and novel. The "new Rector" has enemies, especially the friends of the curate of the late incumbent, who especially resent his youth. And he stirs up some wrath by changes, and—a very real danger—by social exclusiveness. Mr. Weyman, however, should have known better than to suppose that when the Rector chose to turn the sheep out of the church- yard, the churchwardens had any rig it to stop him. When Mr. Bonamy said that it was " their affair," as a lawyer he must have known better. In the end, the Rector has an opportunity of showing of what sterling stuff he is really made, and all things end as they should, except that the very disagreeable Mr. Bonamy gets more than he deserved.—The Rector of Amesty. By John Puce. 3 vols. (Sampson Low and Co.)—We should call this novel a somewhat tedious sermon on the text that there is no fool like an old fool. The Rector is hardly a possibility. He could not have reached the age of sixty as a beneficed clergyman without preaching more than twice. He marries a designing woman, and by her advice engages a curate who turns out to be a swindler. That is a brief epitome of The Rector of Amesty.—In Love or Money, by Katharine Lee (Mrs. Henry Jenner), 3 vols. (Bentley and Son), the most pro- minent feature is the character of the girl Philumena. " Phil," writes Mrs. Jenner early in the first volume, " was a beautiful animal, and very little more." She seems to us, on the contrary, to have been a great deal more,—that is, a great deal worse. Her craft, her self-possession, her other gifts and qualities, all turned to the very worst ends, put her far above or below an animal. The Vicar, with his ecclesiastically named children, is a more spiritually minded Mr. Primrose. Lord Roscarroch and Phil's unlucky husband are excellent sketches. This is a vigorous story, but as distressing as the latest fashion in novels commands.
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