2 NOVEMBER 1895, Page 13

A Maid of the Manse. By A. Rentoul Elder. (Sampson

Low, Marston, and Co.)—The " Manse " is a favourite preserve, so to speak, of writers of fiction. The tale before us differs from the majority of its fellows, and differs, in our humble judgment, for the better, in being written in English. There is more merit in the working out of the plot than in the plot itself, which is of the usual kind. The writing, on the other hand, is distinctly good. "That is what you call a charge," says Miss Rosie to a minister who has been laying down the law very severely to a newly-ordained man ; "a charge with the bayonet would be nothing to it." But possibly this is a " chestnut " in Scotland.