Cameron's tale he is both in succession. When we add
that there is a stanza from Byron on the title-page and a poetical
quotation at the beginning of each chapter, we have possessed the
discerning reader of all necessary information both as to the matter and
the manner of Mrs. Cameron's performance.

Mr. E. O. Pleydell-Bouverie has endowed the novel-writing fraternity with
a new formula for the composition of titles. After J. S.; or,
Trivialities there is no reason why we should not have A. B.; or,
Platitudes, M.N.; or, Sentimentalisms, Y.Z.; or, Inanities. There are
many books which these simple titles would characterise much more aptly
than any high-flown phrases--as aptly, in fact, as Mr. Bouverie's title
characterises the volume before us. It sets forth the uninteresting
fortunes of an insignificant person, one John Stiles, a briefless
barrister. The said John falls in love with a young lady, inherits a
competence, omits to tell his love, and is killed by the bursting of a
fowling-piece--that is all. The only point of interest presented by the
book is the problem as to how it ever came to be written. We can
scarcely find the solution in Mr. Bouverie's elaborately smart style
which cannot be said to transmute his 'trivialities' into 'flies in
amber.'

Mr. Swinburne once proposed that it should be a penal offence against
literature for any writer to affix a proverb, a phrase or a quotation to
a novel, by way of tag or title. We wonder what he would say to the
title of 'Pen Oliver's' last book! Probably he would empty on it the
bitter vial of his scorn and satire. All But is certainly an intolerable
name to give to any literary production. The story, however, is quite an
interesting one. At Laxenford Hall live Lord and Lady Arthur Winstanley.
Lady Arthur has two children by her first marriage, the elder of whom,
Walter Hope-Kennedy by name, is heir to the broad acres. Walter is a
pleasant English boy, fonder of cricket than of culture, healthy, happy
and susceptible. He falls in love with Fanny Taylor, a pretty village
girl; is thrown out of his dog-cart one night through the machinations of
a jealous rival, breaks one of his ribs and gets a violent fever. His
stepfather tries to murder him by subcutaneous injections of morphia but
is detected by the local doctor, and Walter recovers. However, he does
not marry Fanny after all, and the story ends ineffectually. To say of a
dress that 'it was rather under than over adorned' is not very pleasing
English, and such a phrase as 'almost always, but by no means
invariably,' is quite detestable. Still we must not expect the master of
the scalpel to be the master of the stilus as well. All But is a very
charming tale, and the sketches of village life are quite admirable. We
recommend it to all who are tired of the productions of Mr. Hugh Conway's
dreadful disciples.

(1) 'Twixt Love and Duty: A Novel. By Tighe Hopkins. (Chatto and
Windus.)

(2) Jenny Jennet: A Tale Without a Murder. By A. Gallenga. (Chapman and
Hall.)

(3) A Life's Mistake: A Novel. By Mrs. H. Lovett Cameron. (Ward and
Downey.)

(4) J. S.; or, Trivialities: A Novel.