Bound to Win. By Hawley Smart. 8 vols. (Chapman and
Hall.) —Mr. Luxmooro is bound by the terms of his father's will to keep up his establishment of racing horses until he can win the Derby. The matter is further complicated by the gentleman falling in love, and by the view which his father-in-law takes of Turf affairs. Mr. Hawley Smart has made a good story out of these materials. The subject is an ex- tremely distasteful one to many readors, certainly to us, yet the author contrives to give it a certain attractiveness. He is of course on the side of honesty, and he makes his hero triumph over the villainous schemes which are planned to prevent the best horse from winning. This is the natural and it may bo said the proper course for a novelist to follow, though he would probably have adhered more closely to the truth if he brought his honest man to ruin. Still wo are pleased with the bettor ending, and it is anyhow satisfactory to find that, having fulfilled the conditions of his father's will, he gets rid of the whole business with the utmost promptitude. Mr. Hawley Smart's characters are cleverly sketched. The two villains of the piece, Berkeley Holt, the fine gentleman, and Larchor, the low attorney, are common-placo, but the " Honble. Jim " is very good.
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