Intended (_see_ Pref.) as an experiment to bear out (or the contrary) his conviction that “any skill I possess lies in the delineation of character and the unravelment of that tangled skein that makes up human motives.” The scene at first is in a castle on the shores of the Killaries, between Mayo and Galway; afterwards it is on the Continent. Lord Glencore is a passionate, proud, soured man, misanthropical and suffering from disease. A scandal connected with his wife has filled him with hatred and bitterness. He determines to disown his son, who, after a terrible scene, runs away from home. The book is largely taken up with the adventures in Italy and elsewhere of Sir Horace Upton, a distinguished diplomatist and a valetudinarian, together with the doings and sayings of his follower, Billy Traynor, formerly poor scholar, hedge-schoolmaster, fiddler, journalist, now unqualified medical practitioner—a strange character drawn from a real personage. Many of the characters are cosmopolitan political intriguers. In the end Lady Glencore’s innocence is established. ⸺ DAVENPORT DUNN. (PHILADELPHIA: _Peterson_). 1859. The astonishing histories of two adventurers. Dunn is an ambitious, clever man who by shady means lifts himself into a high position as a financier and launches into immense financial schemes. This character was drawn from John Sadlier, Junior Lord of the Treasury, who was the associate of Judge Keogh in “The Pope’s Brass Band,” (so-called) and closed an extraordinary career by committing suicide on Hampstead Heath. Grog David, a blackleg, rivals Dunn in another sphere, his sporting cheats being as vast as the other’s financial swindles. Davis’ high-hearted daughter, Lizzie, is a finely-drawn character. ⸺ ONE OF THEM. Pp. 420. (N.Y.: _Harper_). 0.50. (1861). Scene varies between Florence and the North of Ireland, many of the incidents described being real experiences of his own gone through in each of these places. Lever having been asked which of his novels he deemed best suited for the stage, replied that if a sensation drama were required, he thought _One of Them_ a good subject. Deals largely with the adventures on the Continent of a queer type of Irish M.P.; but its outstanding character is Quackinboss, a droll specimen of Yankee. ⸺ BARRINGTON. (N.Y.: _Pratt_). 0.50. [1862]. A novel of social and domestic life in the middle classes. Scene: a queer little inn, “the Fisherman’s Home,” on the banks of the Nore, Co. Kilkenny. Here the Barringtons live. Among the striking characters are the fire-eating Major M’Cormack; Dr. Dill, an excellent study of a country medical man, and his lively daughter, Polly. The interest largely turns on the disgrace and subsequent vindication of Barrington’s son, George. In this Lever portrays his own son and his career.