Percy Lockhart; or, the Hidden Will. By Francis W. Baxter.
2 vols (S. Tinsley.)--The artistic defect of this tale is the number of threads which the author weaves together for his plot. Again and again he begins at some fresh place, introduces a new story and set of characters, which are to have some influence on the main plot. These the reader is at no small pains to remember, but finds, more than once, that the plot might have been more simply and even more advan- tageously constructed without them. One of them, and a very painful story it is, that of the misauthropical Savile, is, as far as we can see, absolutely useless. Were it dropped out altogether, the tale would not be sensibly affected. But this fault apart, the novel is a good one, the characters- well drawn, the dialogue easy and natural. Percy Lockhart is not a first-rate novel, but it is one which we can recom- mend without misgiving.
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