By Dulvercombe Water. By Harold Vallings. (Macmillan and Co. 6s.)—This
story is concerned with a side-issue of the Monmouth Rebellion. The plot is skilfully constructed, and the hero a quite heroic person without being magnified beyond really human stature. If we have any criticism to make on the tale, it is that the lovers too ingeniously misinterpret each other. But that is the way of lovers in fiction; in real life they commonly contrive to come to an understanding pretty quickly. The fight- ing is for the most part kept out of sight; but we have a power- fully described Beene in Court, with Jeffreys on the Bench : and Jeffreys, it must be understood, has none of the whitewash which latter-day ingenuity has contrived to shed upon him. This part of the tale and the escape are about as good as anything of the kind that we have seen of late.
Previous page
