Spoilt Lives. By S. Raper. (Tinsley.)—The three young women whose
lives are "spoilt," or nearly spoilt, in this history, are too silly. The author is careful not to put any attractive element into the char- acter of Augustus Lawless, for whom, as for a heartless villain, she feels a proper contempt. But why do not her heroines share her feeling? It is impossible to see what they found in him to fascinate them. Of course there is no help against lives being "spoilt," if their possessors have not the sense to use the ordinary ways of keeping them in safety. The novel begins with some promising scenes. Mabel Vansittart, who is introduced to us at "Virginia Seminary," is an agreeable rattle" of the female sex, and certainly amuses us. But when we have to become serious, the pleasantness of the book is at an end. The plot consists of a number of complications in love-making, which are not pleasant read- ing, and which have not even the merit of appearing probable. Still the early chapters leave an impression that the writer may do better hereafter.
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