Vixen.*

VIXEN . *

WE have seldom read a story with more sincere pleasure , or one more healthy ancl agreeable in all its features , or one , we make bold to say , which we could have safely p laced in the hands of our young people , than " Vixen , " lately appearing in All the Year Bound . And pray observe this recommendation of the tale , kind readers , at present somewhat a " desideratum " in respect of those many works of imagination , or no imagination , which pour forth from a prolific press . Miss Braddon has written some worksas we all

, know , which , however clever as compositions ancl brilliant as word painting , cannot , in our honest opinion , be safely recommended either for moral improvement or useful reading , to the young especially . Without saying more to-day , they are , we venture to think , too vividly sensational ancl too dangerously suggestive to be read with safet y by the imaginative or impulsive ; indeed , by any . Their moral somewhat resembles a needle in a haystack , which it is almost

impossible to find . One of Dr . Johnson ' s tests for a good and sound book was that it could be " read aloud . " Now we believe that "Vixen" may safely be read aloud , ancl will do much good by its gentle ancl truthful homeliness , and its kindly pictures of uneventful ambition and country life . Miss Braddon seems to have been deeply affected for good , and by a love of the true , the fair , the natural above allamid the forest trees ancl furzy heaths ancl fresh breezes

, of Hampshire dells and wolds , ancl all Wykehamists especially will enter into her realistic descriptions of a " Country Side , " which none wdio once knew ever forget , which all who still know love truly . In "Vixen" the characters all come out clearly and consistently , most compact and yet most real ! We still see before us the old Manor House , ancl the stout , good old squire , hunting to the last , stately of form and kindly of heart , like another squire we wot of ,

with his old servants , his old ways , his old crotchets , his old wine , ancl his old friends . We behold , too , that weak , goodnatured , lackadaisical woman his wife , without a thought but her complexion or care but for her afternoon tea , or dream or aspiration but " Theodore ' s " dresses , most becoming ancl somewhat expensive . As the family doctor says seiitentiously , " she must be rather difficult to live with ; " but still she meanders ancl maunders through life , talking continuallof her " clear Edward . " And oh laining married

y , ye comp men , who grumble so loudly and so long at your wives' extravagance in dress , what would you say to her little bill at Theodore ' s of £ 1 , 500 P We confess that we cannot sympathise with Vixen ' s mamma ; and yet it may be true , after all , when she "passes away" from "dress ancl diamonds , " and milliners' bills affect her no more , we shall find—as often happens here —• that she has had more good qualities than we had given her credit for .

Vixen herself is to our minds simply charming , both in her ori ginality and her high spirits , her meekness and her ready wit , her loyalty and her truthfulness , her loving ways ancl her " golden heart . " She constitutes a most attractive picture of a sunny , ancl of a warmhearted and noblehearted English girl . Rorie is not very " strong , " perhaps , but yet he is very honest ancl loyal and English , too . Committing an act of weakness , which he bitterly deplores , and

nearly shipwrecking the happiness of two lives by unmanly compliance with a heartless family arrangement , he is luckily saved by his better genius ancl—Vixen . Lady Mabel is charming , both in her selfishness ancl her affectation , her good points ancl her bad points , her love of flowers ancl Beethoven , her asthetic tastes and her literary aspirations . Miss Braddon ' s strong brush has drawn in inimitable contour and appreciative colouring a clever , polished ,