Forget-Me-Note. By Julia Kavanagh. 3 vole. (Bentley and Son.)— This
book comes to us with all the regretful interest that attaches to the last work of an accomplished writer. Though Miss Kavanagh had not passed beyond middle ago at her death her literary career was not a short one. It must be nearly a quarter of a centnry since Nathalie was published. It may safely be said that she never wrote a lino that was not pure and sound in tone. It was always a relief to turn to books so full of delicacy, grace, and tenderness, from the doubtful situations and sinister excitements which one has almost come to expect when one sees a woman's name on the title-page of a novel. Forget-Me-Nots is made up of a number of short tales, which are supposed, as we learn from an unfinished introduction, to record the remembrances and experiences of one who had watched for many years with kindly eyes the life of her neighbours. The most frequent of their themes is the subject of love triumphing over the considerations which may be called mercantile, if not mercenary, that often determine French marriages. The scene is for the most part laid at Manneville, a name which disguises the Norman village in which the writer spent the greater part of her life. French life, character, and scenery are described with a graceful and skilful pen, and with an unfailing sympathy. Sometimes we have traces of a really dramatic power. The "Young Girl's Secret," for instance, if it had been told in more detail might have been developed into a very striking, though painful story.
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