My First Curacy. By the Rev. Sydney Mostyn. (The Leaden-
hall Press.)—We cannot say that the prospect of more books of this kind—this appears to be the first of a proposed series entitled " Curatica "—is very attractive. This story of a first curacy, which ends in the curate's marriage to the vicar's daughter, comes near, again and again, to the borders of vulgarity, and is more than once not very far from irreverence. The ecclesiastical part is sometimes absurd, as, e.g., the idea of babies being hired to plague a curate with an extraordinary number of christenings. As for the love-story, which is at the least as important an element as the other, it is in anything but good taste,—witness the account of the first Sunday supper at the vicarage, where the " vicaress," leaving her guest and daughter alone, warns them not "to be foolish, or do as young people are fond of doing when they are left alone." Altogether, this is a decidedly offensive book. '
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