A Son of Gad. By John A. Steuart. (Hutchinson and
Co. (s.)—Mr. Steuart makes use of two subjects which attract, and very naturally attract, present-day sentiment. MacLean of Dunveagle—the pseudonyms are not constructed with as much tact as might have been used—has been compelled to sell his inheritance This has been bought by a millionaire from the United States. The story opens with the strangers in possession, and the old chief furiously wrathful with the situation, his wrath being intensely sympathised with by the retainers of the house. How the story ends it might not be fair to Mr. Steuart to say ; tho reader may guess how it is made to work up to another popular feeling—" Hands across the sea "—Britain's and America's. The book is one of the numberless illustrations of the proverb,—the half is better than the whole. Yet it is readable ; it can hardly be said that there is a plot ; but there is a narrative not without attractions. The humorous element is more to be considered than the serious. Is it not a strange compliment to a cook to say : " You've a way with a braxy ham that makes the mouth water at the thought of it "? A cook may have to deal with a " braxy " ham—presumably a ham from a diseased sheep— but she does not care to be told about it.
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