Dwellers by the River. By Mrs. Campbell Praed. (J. Long.
63.) —The "River" is an Australian river, and has an important function to perform in bringing about the accomplishment of the heroine's destiny. This is indeed the best part of Mrs. Campbell Praed's story. "Story," we say, though there are really five stories, joined together, formally by the unity of the narrator, really by the very lively personality of Marge, the heroine aforesaid. Marge is a flirt of the first order, a " jibber," to use the expressive language of her brother, who can be cured of that vice only by being made to run in double harness. Dwellers by the River is distinctly well written and interesting. But we take leave to pro- test against the indiscriminate use of tragedy. We can under- stand that in "The Winning of the Ubi Cup" art prescribed the melancholy end. The same may be said of "The Races which were Not Run." There was no way out of the complication. The first story is a doubtful case. As to "The Baby's Christening," it is a wanton and useless infliction of pain; the last, and best, of the stories would have been better still without the needless intrusion of the tragical.
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