Benjamin's Sack. By Meta C. Scott. (Ward, Lock, and Bowden.)
—We cannot help feeling that this story is constructed on wrong principles. The author seems to have asked herself,—How can I picture a man enduring the greatest possible amount of self- sacrifice ? To be patient under a false charge for the love of another seems a strong situation; everything must be made to heighten the effect. The man's nature must be utterly averse to the wrongdoing ; his position in life must make the disgrace peculiarly painful ; he must endure this disgrace before the eyes of one with whom he particularly desires to stand well. Thus the sensation is piled up. But meanwhile we have got a long way from all the probabilities of life. The situation should be most pathetic, but in view of the manifest impossibilities we refuse to be affected.
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