23 OCTOBER 1875, Page 22

The Fortunes of Maurice Cronin. By M. L. Kenny. 3

vols. (Tinsley Brothers.)—This novel possesses a quality which Irish novels, we must do them the justice to say, seldom do possess, that of being extraordinarily tedious. This is a criticism which it is difficult, nay, impossible, to justify by proof. To transcribe half-a-dozen pages would indeed be sufficient, but who could endure that ? We can assure our readers, who, if they study these columns, must be pretty well con- vinced of our long-suffering, that Maurice Cronin has been too much for our patience. Will not this specimen of style suffice :—" One look around showed him that his adversary was nowhere to be seen. Another—for, his momentary panic at an end, he was collected enough to remember that, however a goblin foe might affright him, to no mere creation of flesh and blood would he yield up presence of mind—that in going in pursuit, he had no such clue to guide him as he might reasonably have thought should be furnished by the foot-prints of the fugitive in the snow ?"