24 DECEMBER 1864, Page 21

Which Is the Winner? By Charles Clarke. (Chapman and Hall.)—

A clevar, readable novel, full of incident and of characters which, if not very interesting, are at least natural. Mr. Clarke writes very much as Mrs. Gore would have done had she been addicted to field sports. He takes up her old text—the silent conflict always going on between the new and the old aristocracies, the squires and the manufacturers, but enriches the details of this contest with very good sketches of hunting scenes, racing scenes, affrays between poachers and keepers, and all the more vivid incidents of country life. His plot is not original, nor are his characters, but his narrative is light, natural, and entertaining.