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*The Mysterious Wife*
	(Review / *The Mysterious Wife: a Novel, by Mary Meeke*)
	Critical Review, June 1798
	New Series, v.23

The hero of this novel, Henry Westhorpe, meets a lady at the Spa, of whom he becomes enamoured, although he can procure no information respecting her. While he is almost despairing on this account, she sends hima letter informing him that he has won [233] her heart, and that he may receive her hand on particular conditions. He is to remain with her a fortnight; they are then to separate; he is not to divulge his marriage or the name by which she was married, or desire to follow or see her, without her permission; and she is to gratify him with supplies of money. By the advice of a friend, he accepts this offer; and, after the marriage and limited cohabitation, they separate. The uneasiness and dangers occasioned by his passing as a bachelor, and his fruitless attempts to obtain a sight of his wife, form the incidents of the remaining volumes. If the reader should not be disgusted at this original absurdity, he wil not be displeased to follow Henry through all his adventures. They are written in a very entertaining manner; and although there are symptoms of a desire of prolonging the anxieties of the husband, merely to eke out four volumes, yet we question whether many of the ordinary readers of novels will complin of the length. The portrait of sir William Cleveland is not ill drawn. It is more natural than the characters of captain Grey and some other intruders upon the main story.