CURRENT LITERATURE.
A Mixed Marriage. By the Lady Amabel Kerr. (Art and Book Company.)—A very sweet and natural character is portrayed in the heroine of this little tale. Several of the other personages would also be sufficiently individual if further delineated, but a spirit of haste pervades these pages, which somewhat mars their finish. There is also a sectarian flavour that is slightly fatiguing. The authoress, an ardent Roman Catholic, contents herself with the somewhat arbitrary assumption that Catholics are very right, and Protestants very wrong, without taking any precaution to ensure the reader's agreement with her. No character or incident in A Mixed Marriage would give an idea of the ethical charm which many seek for in the Church of Rome ; and we find ourselves breathing a Pharisaical atmosphere, which appears to us unjust to the better class of Roman Catholics. In the interests of human nature we hope that the character of Lord Alne is not conceived with any probability or truth. A man who would break his most solemn promise to an adored wife could hardly be an otherwise upright and well-disymed personage. With the main contention of this story we are inclined to agree. A "mixed marriage " does not generally conduce to domestic peace or a high moral tone in either of the contracting parties.
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