14 FEBRUARY 1891, Page 23

Miss Pringle's Pearls. By Mrs. G. Linnaeus Banks. (Hutchin- son

and Co.)—Mrs. Banks reminds us a little of Maria Edgeworth. This story especially has much of the simple and homely charm which we have been accustomed to find in the "Moral Tales." Miss Pringle is a charming old lady—perhaps, if we may venture to any so, a little caricatured by the excessive alliteration with which she is made to emphasise her talk—but a really natural character for whom it is impossible not to feel affection and respect. The story is of the old-fashioned sort (for which wo have a great liking, For all that the pessimists may say), whore right and wrong are properly rewarded, But justice is tempered with mercy, and even the undeserving are not loft out wholly in the cold.