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even if the bigamist source of interest, as applied to stories relating to members of the British peerage, were really true (and we don't think it is), the topic has been worn rather threadbare by successive novelists, and that it is quite time they taxed their invention so far as to devise a new one.

Over the Cliffs, a Novel; by Charlotte Chanter. (Smith, Elder, & Co.)—The hoyden is always a favourite character with novel-readers; and, in good hands, is a first-rate card for the fictionist. With our authoress it is not only the chief, but almost the only, card. Miss Tye Dawson is the wild, impulsive, reckless daughter of a drunken old brute, who ill-uses and neglects her, and is willing to sacrifice her to the equally drunken son of a neighbour, who has a hold upon him. But Tye's honesty and truth, assisted by the friends and circumstances which her innate worth calls about her, bring her through her difficulties, and the story ends in the due and proper moral conclusion of the happiness of the innocent, and the confusion of the guilty.

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All the interest of the story centres in this one character, which, and the excellent style in which it is written, place it above the average. Plot there is none-the interest of the story lies in single scenes, which invariably flag when the heroine is absent, and almost as invariably succeed when she is present.

The House on the Moor; by the Author of "Margaret Maitland." 3 vols. (Hurst & Blackett.)-Family jars have long. been a favourite, though disagreeable material, out of which to weave the plot of a novel. Mr. Dickens has worked the idea rather extensively, and in the volumes before us Mrs. Oliphant has built up her story upon a family feud, carried to the last extremities, and prolonged to the third generation. Mr. Scarsdale, the occupant of the "House on the Moor," has been deprived, by the "wicked will" of his father, of all usufruct in an enormous property which is bequeathed to his son, who was but an infant when the grandfather died, and is not to enter into possession until the father's death, when he will become one of the richest men in

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England. Under these circumstances the disinherited man retires to a lonely mansion in the wilds of Cumberland, where he brings up his two children, Horace and Susan, in a state of isolation and penury, visiting upon their heads the hatred which his sense of the wrong perpetrated towards himself, has induced him to feel towards mankind in general, and his own kindred in particular. No spark of natural affection enlivens the dreary and unloving household, and Horace is unable to afford, not only the natural pleasures which should be enjoyed by the future possessor of many thousands a-year, but even of the ordinary means of respectable education. One wonders, by the way, how it happened that Mr. Scarsdale never thought of applying to the Court of Chancery, which would certainly have so far modified the stringent provisions of the "wicked will," as to have made him guardian of the heir, with a liberal allowance for his maintanence, in a style befitting his future status in the world. As it is, the father allows himself to live on in comparative poverty, brooding over his wrongs, which he revenges upon his children, bringing them up in an atmosphere, not of active hatred, but of sullen neglect and dislike even more oppressive. The natural consequences ensue. The boy grows up into an evil-disposed and selfish man, who learns to hate his father, and pushes hatred even to the most criminal extremities. The girl is of better disposition, and, after nearly dying under the paternal régime, escapes into better hands, and finds a happy deliverance. This groundwork for a novel is decidedly uncomfortable; but the story is relieved by the introduction of other characters and incidents of much brighter complexion; and, as it is told in the lively and natural style which has become characteristic of the authoress, the result has been to constitute a work not inferior in interest to any novel of the bygone year.

The Wortlebank Diary, and some Old Stories from Kathie Brande's Portfolio; by Holme Lee. (Smith & Elder, 3 vols.) -"The Wortlebank Diary" simply supplies a new frame in which the authoress has "set" a series of old stories, already familiar to the public in the pages of sundry periodicals. The old storytellers did not take much trouble in this way; any thread sufficed to string their tales upon. But, since periodical writing has

spread so extensively, and reprints therefrom have become so numerous, the writers have thought it necessary-or found it profitable-to bestow somewhat more elaboration upon the setting in which their jewels are once more exhibited to the public gaze. Holme Lee has followed this example. The passages from the

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Diary," wherein the various stories are artistically imbedded, contain a very pleasing story of their own, although the interest is perhaps somewhat marred by the fragmentary manner in which it is told. Of the other tales and sketches we need say no more than that they deserved the popularity that attended their first appearance, and are well worth republication in the present collected form.

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The Shadow in the House; by John Saunders. (Lockwood & Co.) -The "house" is Bletchworth Hall, the residence of Bletchworth Dell, Esq., a country gentleman of middle age, of tolerable fortune, moderate abilities, artistic tastes, considerable ambition, and a rather vacillating mind. The "shadow" is Grace Addersley, Mr. Dell's cousin from Virginia, who came to the Hall by invitation at her father's death, some months before the story opens, and has remained there ever since as virtual mistress of the mansion, pending the time when Mr. Dell shall marry." Now, Grace is a young lady of great beauty and accomplishments, with a very musical voice, and a very determined will. She has made up her mind that Mr. Dell shall marry herself. But the gentleman has not made up his mind to the same effect, and one day brings home to the Hall a wife of his own selection-a loving, pretty, fragile, and half-educated thing, of whose existence Grace learns for the first time when her cousin announces his marriage. In the shock of the discovery Grace lets fall words which show Mr. Dell her attachment to himself, making him comprehend-what he never seems to have thought of before-that he might have married her if he had chosen, and inducing him almost to wish that he had. Notwithstanding, or because of, this revelation of their mutual sentiments, Mr. Dell invites his cousin to continue her abode in Bletchworth Hall, a plan to which the newly espoused wife very oddly and foolishly offers no objection. So the owners of the "house" live on with the "shadow "always present

at board and hearth. The arrangement belongs to the class of blunders that are as bad as crimes, seeing that they so often lead to them. What is the issue in the present case we need not particularize. The author has worked out with much vigour the moral of his tale, which, as we take it, is intended to convey a lesson to young wives, that, on their first entrance to their future homes, they should effect a clearance of all pretty cousins, for fear of their becoming shadows. To that numerous class of novel readers who like something hot and strong, Mr. Saunders' volume will be highly acceptable.

CHRISTMAS Books.

Legends from Fairy Land. By Holme Lee. (Smith & Elder.)—The genus, Fairy Tale, is not extinct. Indeed, as the present specimen shows, it is still as fanciful, as imaginative, and as full of whimsicalities aud oddities as ever. But it has undergone a marked change. Like the rest of the world, it has participated in the "progress of the age." Above all, it has been to school. Now, the old fairy tale knew nothing of schools. It had always lived a free, roving, and dreaming life. It possessed no knowledge whatever—that is, in the competitive examination sense of the term. It had never read a book other than those in its own legendary library, or done a sum in arithmetic, or learnt the use of the globes. On the other hand, it had a rapid fancy, a rich invention, a keen power of observation, a good deal of fun, and a plentiful faculty of wonder. The modern fairy tale is, perhaps, quite as funny and fanciful; but both its fun and fancy are trained and disciplined. In fact, it has been to school; and, though just now home for the holidays, and capering about in the giddiest spirits, cannot quite forget what it has learnt there. In the midst of its wildest flights, accordingly, we come across an historical parallel, or some reminiscence of the last book of travels; or even-incongruous element-some maxim of political economy! Holme Lee's "Legend" follows the example of its contemporaries. We find in it fairies, including their queen, who do fairy work ; but who are also allegorical personages, and teach moral lessons. No doubt the lessons are good-humoured ones; and the allegory

is neither grave nor mystical. But the ingredients are quite foreign to the aboriginal design of the Fairy tale, which was never permitted to mean or teach anything. Perhaps the new model is better adapted to the rising generation of children, who are grown so wise as to despise even a Christmas story-book, if they cannot get a satisfactory answer to the question, “What does it mean?" If so, we can recommend to their perusal the "Legends from Fairy Land," with its charming stories, touching. the revels at Elfin Court, the inhabitants of Sheneland, the delicacies of Aplepivi, the loves of Prince Glee and Princess Trill,, and the machinations of wicked Aunt Spite.

Three Gifts in one Setting; by A. L. Bond. (Kent & Co.)— Tennyson's "Poet's Song," Campbell's "Field Flowers," and Mrs. Hemans's "Pilgrim Fathers," are each in themselves gifts well worth acceptance. They are all three here combined in one gorgeous "setting," by Mr. Bond. Every stanza of these exquisite poems is indeed separately set in its own border of arabesque and tinted tracery, and separated from its successor by an appropriate vignette of graceful design. More elaborate illustrations. are also plentifully interspersed, executed in chromo-lithography, by Mr. D. Brand, and presenting one of the most successful specimens of that department of art which we have ever seen. As usual in such productions, the artist has introduced in his title-page hints of all the forthcoming performances in the way of fancy and taste, of colouring and gilding, following the model of the opera composers, who allow a few bars of their choicest airs to whisper in the overture. The volume is magnificently attired, and stands forth in livery "more guarded than its. fellows," even among the glittering gift-books of the present

season.

NOTES ON NEW FRENCH BOOKS.

Manuel du Libraire et de l'Amateur de Livres; by J. C. Brunet. (Paris: Firmin Didot et Cie.)-More than fifty years ago, M. Brunet published a Bibliographical Dictionary, remarkable for its copious exactness; and its utility and merit were proved

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