Briseis. By William Black. (Sampson Low and Co.)—Mr. Black always
meets with a welcome from readers who have the good taste to like simple, natural characters and a wholesome sense of right and wrong,—not always to be found in latter-day fiction. In Briseis he introduces us to some very interesting people. First there is the old botanist, who is positively killed, half by the disappointment, half by the fear lest his veracity should be suspected, when he finds the new habitat which he has discovered for some rare plant, is the outcome of a practical joke. Then we have his daughter, the heroine, brightest and sunniest of creatures, as fair within as without, so honest that she cannot comprehend that others may be malicious and deceitful. Miss Penguin of the Hypatia Club, with her baleful eye and her dowdy dress, and Mr. Quick, with his slashing reviews, again, are cleverly drawn figures. "Aunt Jean," too, is an admirable old lady, even though we cannot think that her counsel was either prudent or right when she advised her nephew, engaged to B but loving A, to seek an interview with A for the purpose of telling her that, in spite of love, they must part for ever. As for the hero, Frank Gordon, he is quite an ideal ; and one cannot help liking even Georgie L'Estrange, with her jolly, merry ways, in spite of her artful tricks and her vulgarity. Altogether, we are genuinely sorry to bid good-bye to the lot. Let our readers lose no time in making their acquaintance.
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