20 DECEMBER 1890, Page 24

Mad John Burleigh. By Mrs. Charles Garnett. (S. W. Part-

ridge and Co.)—John Burleigh, possessed by a vocation to the work of a clergyman, refuses the succession to an inheri- tance which his uncle offers him. This is his first "mad- ness." His work in his first parish—where the rector, Canon Tredman, an admirable organiser, whom everybody respects and no one loves—is very well describei ; and in his own parish after- wards, is of a piece with this his beginning. He is still " mad" in the estimation of the worldly, but is one of " Wisdom's children" for all that. The story of his life, his failures and his successes, is told with much pathetic power. Mrs. Garnett does not fall into the mistake of idealising. John Burleigh does win souls for his Master, but he finds that, too often, "he that is unjust is unjust still, and he that is filthy, filthy still." Mrs. Boothroyd and Bradley are pictures of character only too true to life. On the other hand, Rebecca Sugden and Bob Chatteris were prizes worth winning. Mad John Burleigh is an excellent book, and should do much good if it could get into the right hands.