NOVEL'S.

LALIGE'S LOVERS.*

IT is interesting to watch the evolution of Mr. Birmingham's talent. In his -earlier ventures there were glimpses of humour, but it played only a subsidiary part, and the prevailing atmosphere was somewhat morns and autumnal. But in Spanish Gold the full-blown humorist stood suddenly revealed, and was maintained through what may be called the " J. J." cycle. To find a parallel for this sudden change is not easy : generally the development is in the opposite direction, and authors who begin by entertaining their readers tend, as years advance, to become more serious, and devote space to the element of instruction or edifi- cation. For "Mr. Birmingham's case the only parallel that occurs to us at the moment is that of John Parry, who began his career as a serious musician, but " found himself " as a musical comedian. Anyhow the change must be judged by results. Mr. Birmingham was illuminating as a serious novelist and he is exhilarating in his present phase, so readers and reviewers have no ground for complaint. Besides, the genuine humorist is a rare bird, and to this engaging species Mr. Birmingham undoubtedly belongs. And he has proved his versatility in the novel before us by breaking new ground. The inexhaustible, the imper- turbable, the incorrigible "J. J." no longer dominates the scene. His place is taken by a new character, bearing a family resemblance, it is true, to Marjorie in The Major's Niece, but richly endowed with qualities which are all her own.

Lalage Bereaford was not " the daughter of a Dean, rich, fat, and rather apoplectic," but of an Irish Canon, nor had she " one brother " like Praed's heroine, in which ease her exuberant individuality might have been kept in check. She was the only child of her father, an easy-going, tolerant widower with scholarly tastes and a genius for evading difficulties by absenting himself whenever a crisis arose. These traits do not make for an effective supervision of the young, and to Lalage, in her earlier phases, and especially in her treatment of her governess, one might apply with -the necessary change of gender the often-quoted -lines of Calverley :— • Levi', Lmors. By Georje A. Birmingham. London : MMnhueniad 00. 03-1 "She was what nurses call a limb, One of those small -misguided creatures -Who, though their intellects are dim, Are one too many for their teachers."

Lalage was certainly one -too many for Miss Battersby, the Canon, the Archdeacon, and the young man—whose -surname and Christian name are'both withheld from the curious reader —who acts as-chronicler of her bustige• Streiche. But it cannot

be -said that her intellect was dim. This engaginc•

— young- hoyden a -veritable "playgirl of the West"—inherited a taste for letters from her father. She combined an immense- appetite for sweetmeats and ices with a decided talent for-

literary expression. She was at once athletic and bookish;

she was, like -many of her countrymen, a born journalist, and it is with her successive—and explosive--Kventures in this field

that the story is largely concerned. The narrator, a genie.) young Irish landlord, yields to her •powers of persuasion from.

the first, helps to finance her papers, and extricates her from the difficulties in which she was landed by her vivacious pen. The first venture was .a anere domestic bomb- shell, but the second caused eighteen bishops to threaten,

actions for libel, and the third -convulsed a country-aide at a by election in-which the enfortunatunarmtor -is standing au Unionist candidate. By way of concession to the sentimental

reader, Lalage is represented in the concluding chapters in a somewhat gentler mood; but Mr. Birmingham, always frugal in his handling of the tender passion, contrives on this occasion to eliminate it altogether. But while there is no room for passion in comedy which borders on farce, there are plenty of those sidelights .on Ireland and Irish ways in which Mr. Birmingham excels. There is a delightful touch in the •scene of Lalage's starting ler school, -when the -Canon ".went in search of the stationmaster and found •him at last digging potatoes in a plot of ground beyond -the signal-box. It took some time," we read, " to persuade him to part with

anything so valuable as a ticket to Dublin." When it was arranged that the narrator should join-the British Embassy in Lisbon as a kind of 'unpaid attache, anti the Archdeacon

dilated on the nobility of serving one's country, the feelings of the would-be-diplomat are thus described.

"I felt at the time that this is very likely to be true in the case of anyone who has a country to- serve. I, unfortunately, have none. The recent developments of Irish life, the revivals of various kinds, the books which people keep on writing, and the general atmosphere of the country -have robbed me, and others like me, -of -the belief, held comfortably by our fathers, that we are Englishmen. On the other hand, nobody, least of all the patriotic politicians who make ;speeches, will admit that we are Irish. We are thus, without any fault of our own, left poised in a state of quivering uncertainty, like -the poor Samaritans whom the Jews despised as Gentiles and the Gentiles did not like because they seemed to be Jews. I lound it difficult, while I listened to the Archdeacon, to decide what country had a claim on me for service. Perhaps Portugal —I was going to Lisbon—would mark me for her own."

Lastly, we may give the narrator's views on the subject of co-education. Lalage,ber friend Hilda, and young Mr. Selby- Harrison had been summoned before the. Provost of Trinity

College, Dublin, after one of their journalistic outrages, and while the young man came back shattered—"-like that tele- scope man who got caught by the Inquisition, having spent hours on the rack .and nearly had his face eaten eff as well "- Lalage and Hilda, arrayed in tussore silk and Carrickmacrosa lace, found the " Prov." a " perfect pet " :—

" I have always disliked the-modern system of co-education, an after reading Lalage's letter I was strongly inclined to agree with. the bishop who wants to stamp it out, beginning with the infant schools. I do not agree with his reasoning. My objection—it applies particularly to the admission of-grown-up-young women to universities—is that even-handed justice is never -administered. The girls get off cheap. Some day, perhaps, we shall have a lady presiding as provost over one of our.great universities. Then the inequalities of our present arrangements will be balanced by others. The Lalages and Hildas of those days will spend hours- upon the 'rack. If they are fools enough to jump into tussore frocks and blouses with Carrickmacross lace on them before being admitted to the august presence they will have their faces eaten off as well. On the other hand, the Selby-Harrison, if reasonably good-looking young men, will find the Prov. a perfect pet, who doesn't really mean anything, who, perhaps, will not even try to- look as if she does."