Her Friend. Laurence : a Novel. By Frank Lee Benedict.
(Samuel Tinsley and Co.)—Mr. Benedict can write well, and he ought not, therefore, to write as be does in this novel. It is poor as a novel, and its moral drift is bad. The characters are unnatural, and therefore uninteresting ; the plot melodramatic and absurd ; and the whole book is even vulgar. But this is not the worst. There is an unworthy tone running through the story from be- ginning to end, and certain passages are so equivocal (ono of the very worst, by the way, is addressed to a lady), that we prefer not even to quote them. The scone is laid in Florence, and the present writer is not acquainted with Florentine society ; but we venture to assert that if it resembles the picture Mr. Benedict has drawn, the less English girls know about it, the better.
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