The Red Court Farm. 3 vols. By Mrs. Henry Wood.
(Tinsley.) —Mrs. Wood tells us that "the germ of this novel appeared in two short tales, published by the author in first-class periodicals some years ago." The process of making two "germs" into one plant is not one which we see taking place in nature, and Mrs. Wood is not, we think, successful in her attempt to perform it. Whether the original "germs "- are to be found in the first and third volumes respectively we do not know, but we certainly can discover no real connection between them. It is true that the Red Court Farm is described in elaborate detail in the first chapter (and described, as Mrs. Wood's readers will readily believe, with considerable power), and that it is made the scone of the events which are the subject of the third volume ; but the narrative passes at once to a different place, and describes the shortcomings of a certain Mr. Lake, which have nothing, as far as we can see, to do with the main story. If we may hazard a conjecture, we should say that the- two germs are the story of Robert Lake's first wife and the smuggling adventure on the coast. A certain Lady Ellis is introduced to bring tho two together ; she breaks Mrs. Lake's heart, and she contrives to make herself mistress of the Red Court Farm. But except for this end she is a most unnecessary person. The catastrophe in the third volume is. worked up with much skill and power ; throughout the book, as it seems to us, good materials are spoilt in the vain endeavour to construct out of them what they were not fitted to make.
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