Sir Marmaduke Lorton, Bart. By the Hon. Albert S. G.
Canning. 3 vols. (Samuel Tinsley.)—This book is a very odd mixture. The story itself concerns the sayings and doings of a number of exceedingly disreputable persons, among whom a certain Miss Newton, who is the mistress of a profligate nobleman called Lord Nashville, is the most prominent. Whatever credit belongs to the achievement of depicting with a certain accuracy the violent temper and general want of self- restraint that characterise such persons as Miss Newton fairly belongs to Mr. Canning. Lord Nashville is a very common-place villain. His rascally valet, and the hideous old woman who, having played the part of a harlot, takes up that of a procuress, have the look of low-class photographs, quite without art, but not altogether without resemblance. Altogether it is poor stuff, and veri unsavoury. Then there comes in what is called "Mr. Brandon's Narrative." The story could get on perfectly well without it. The common-place criticisms on books and discussions of questions political and theological with which it is mainly occupied, are admirably suited to a private diary, might even be read to a few hearers bound by the obligations of friendship or hospitality. A young patrician who has read Mr. Matthew Arnold and Mr. Buckle might rise to any eminence in the State. But he should not disenchant us by publishing, or, if he must publish, he should not send his thoughts forth in such ill company as jostles them in Sir Marmaduke Lorton. Mr. Canning should remember his name. The associations of genius make even respectable mediocrity seem more dwarfish, but what does it do for such stuff as the indifferent biographies of "kept 1VOM011" and rascally 'valets?
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