6 JUNE 1835, Page 19

Mary and Florence, or Grace and Gay, is a pretty

and interest- ing children's story of the serious class. The object of the author is to inculcate the importance of early impressing " the scheme of Redemption and the doctrine of Atonement " on the minds of the young. He also appears to have aimed at showing the practical uses of Christianity in its power of checking even in little children the commission of faults, or of inducing their acknowledgment. The incidents are of a simple nature, such as occur in every fa. mily; they are, however, more used as a vehicle for infusing lessons on religion. The only event with a shade of romance is the one which brings about the catastrophe. Florence the gay is stolen by a gipsy; but her artless religious discourses, backed by a thunder-storm and a promise of protection, induce the old woman to carry her home again ; and the book ends with the restoration.