30 JUNE 1866, Page 22

Charity He/stone. A Tale. By Mrs. Carey Brook. (Seeley, Jackson,

and Halliday.)—Mrs. Brook writes stories which are very popular in Evangelical households, and especially delightful, we should think, to Evangelical clergymen. One of these is set up as the central figure ;

all the good people fall down before him. and worship him, quote his sermons,, and quite lose their individuality, to the advantage of one or two wicked persons, who, introduced as foils, become endeared to us by retaining the features of human beings. Charity Helstone as a child getting into a passion with the old servant, for telling good-natured fibs, and repenting when she recognizes the merit of the intention, is natural and interesting, but when her "young soul lias fed upon the green spots of pasture" to which it was directed by the Rev. Mr. Morton, she becomes unfieshed, talks like a book, and is unbearable. With great propriety she is not allowed to marry, but devotes herself instead to the duty of puttieg out in life the twelve children of her reverend friend.