By Right of Succession. By Esm6 Stuart. 3 vols. (Ward
and Downey.)—We are much obliged to Miss Esm6 Stuart for giving us the pleasure of reading again a novel of the old-fashioned kind, with its vicissitudes of fortune, its poetical justice, and its final distribution of good things to all the people who deserve them. The venerable properties appear again ; the old escritoire, with the secret drawer, among them. There is the selfish lover, who backs out of his engagement when the money disappears ; the unselfish lover, who is rewarded by the good fortune of the penniless girl to whom he has given his heart ; and the other familiar characters. We are speaking seriously ;--of the fin de Melo novel, in which everybody is vicious or miserable, and commonly both, vexing us with the eternal " sexual question," we have had enough. It is a real refreshment to get back to something more wholesome.
Previous page
