28 JULY 1866, Page 22

Millicent Legh. A Tale. By Emma Marshall. (Seeley, Jackson, and

Halliday.)—The authoress has modelled her tale on a careful study of the earlier triumphs of Miss Yong°, and the result is an Evangelical Heartsease, marred by .a pernicious habit, adopted from Lord Lytton, of indicating in a couple of pages at a time the virtues of the heroine and her friends, and the shortcomings of their worldly-minded foils. Still the book -will be found pleasant reading by young ladies, who are at liberty to take what exception they please to the special morality in- culcated. The relations in which the characters are placed to each other are not unskilfully managed, though the extent and manner of the development of their idiosyncracies is exaggerated to a considerable extent. We except from all praise the self-sufficient incumbent, who is set before us as an apostle with one weakness, but who carries his foible to thp exact point of displaying himself as a snob, notwithstanding the sage counsels of a saintly and bedridden mother ; but the fast is women seldom emceed in delineating a clergyman to the satisfaction of the critical lay. mind. It is impossible not to feel kindly towards a religions novel so devoid of cant and intolerance as Millicent Legh, and BO bent upon enforcing the performance of the relative duties. We dis- miss it therefore with a commendation to the amiable class of persons for whom it is intended, and with just a passing protest on our own account against impossibly angelic children as vehicles for pretty sentiments.