15 AUGUST 1896, Page 26

Gildas Haven. By M. S. Haycraft. (Jarrold and Sons.)—This is

a story of Church and Chapel, so skilfully contrived that we are left at the last in ignorance as to the side to which the writer's own sympathies inclined her. She appreciates the zeal and piety of the old minister of Rehoboth Chapel ; she does the same with equal comprehension for the fervent young man who comes to raise the sleepy parish with his vehement assertion of "Catholic" practices and doctrine. She has a good word even for the con- servative old Rector. Of course every one will guess that the complication has something to do with love. Gildas is the daughter of the old minister and the main-stay of Rehoboth ; and Bertram Pendrill has strong views on clerical celibacy. But what are bolts and bars to love ?