CURRENT LIT_E_RATURE:
It may at least be said of Some Stained Pages (Ward and Downey), by the author of "The NewMistress,' that lehas anair ofrealityy that it is carefully written, and that it must be not less carefully read before one can safely pronounce judgment upon it. The writer haefollowed--Dick-ensinte the streettrand.kitchens of life. He introduces us to a sort of modified Qailp in the person of a swindling lawyer, named l3lit3reford, under-whose, lash; in only too literal a sense, the fatherless hero, Antony Grace, is brought at the beginning of -thestory. Thereseems, too,. in Thnytaadventerea when he runs away from Blakeford, a suggestion—though ever so slight— of David Copperfield's experiences when he fled to his aunt Betsy Trotwood. Bat the special. lotteclass, characters, the portraiture of whom the author of Some Stained Pages has obviously bestowed most pains uppity are 'obviously all hie (or: her) owm. Ofthestathe beak are, to our thinking, Mary, Blakeford's cook, and Policeman Revitts, with whom little Grace finds shelter when he reaches London, and whom Mary marries under circumstaneetewhich, it . must.betallowederecall the, union of Peggotty encl./dr. Ilarkis. We certainly nrefer these to some of the more ambitious characters in the story, especially to the unfortunate inventor, who dies at the moment when success crowns his-efforts, and the equally unfortunate young--lady, who is not, long in. following-him to. the grave. Antony Gram:yr:niter hurriedly, too, patches up a.mtarriage with the daughter of hie brutal employer: We should saythee the forte of.this authoris nob, plot, but deaeription; and. description. of the realistic sort. The priatiegoffice interiorsthat. are. given have an air of fidelity to truth. Altogether; Some.
Stained,Pageenisee. above, medioority atime onlrtoo notable for commonplace. fiction.
Wilbourne Hall. By Mrs. Chumont. (T.: Fisher Iinwiu.)—Trifbourne.Hell, without beinga remarkable, is. auagreeable novel: Theauthor has-not yet acquired the art of concealing art. She nails: a warningto a post where the ice is thin ; and a seeree inher heeds is,like a.neat bx the grass with the anxious mother-flattering, about it. We know at once what it is Nurse Skellory has done, why she is, so vehemently excited by-the news' ofthe. intended second marriage of her " nursling's " father, and why she treats her grand, son so strangely. A story founded upon the. substitution. of' one child foe another. cannot, at the best, claim commendation beyond that of being a clever variation upon an old theme ; but so much praise, is fairly. Mrs. Canmont's due. She: will write a betternovel next, time, if she will' bear in mindthat eccentricity is-not character; and thatsmall details, when they do not-make me piotare, mar.it. At.presentehe is too eager and, indiscriminate; it is-as-if alnehad: come into possession ofthe famotts-ragpbagin." Eveningrat Home," and. gone at her patchwork. withentinplan. There are excame. bits; a capital miser for instance, with ahousekeeper well worthy, of; him; who ens wore lie inquiriesafter theserape so eentetu. tionalythatleneverthinks of-verifying her:let:ailed account of-them ; a general shop with its propriebore easy of recognition as,estudy from the: life, by readers acquainted with country parts.; a.village. postmaster whom most of usknew; andn:horsey young-ladywhom weshould.prefer noleto know. We do not, however, think poor Miss Georginaquite deserved tobe • so thoroughly burned ta death, that" the-only traces-of her to.be found were her, silver, brooch, and.. a scorched thread of her. ball-dress, among the debris.' Would-nodthe-threadhave vanished as: completely as.. MissGeorgina., and,the. silver brooch melted, ina conflagration by which, cremation is left. nowhere?
TO Kaifu:en the Holy. Br. Alexander. A.. Boddy. (Kogan: Paul, Tienoh, and Co.)—There is: not verymuch about-"the Holy City" inthis.,volunem Mr: Boddy reaches it one p. 165, and_ leaves it on p. 221',; and we gather that. his stay did not, extend over more than four -days. Still, it is:something to have gone-there; the-description of thecitryand. its people isinteresting; and the narrative of travel, going and.returning; sufficiently readable. It was on the strength of the-French presence at. Tuniethat the traveller, ventured to go ; bat hewasclearly not welcome, and alittleimprudence might have caused a real danger. Mr. Bodily seems to have been:a:good-tempered traveller, capable.of_ roughing ie.and with tho green. advantage of some-knowledge-of Arabic. There is a. little too much effort to be amusing. Thechapters, indeed, we may guess, were originallyletters sent home; but what entertains, and quite rightly too, a home.
circle, is not always, effective. forthe same purpose in printBet neither -the public nor the-home-circle are likely-to beentertained, by
havingblood described as "sanguineous fluid." It would beme.
gracious, however, to make much of a few slips in taste of. the kind. It may be truthfully said that Mr. Boddy is a gentleman of enterprise, who had the readiness to seize promptly the opportunity of seeing a new country,--for KairwAn had before been visited by very few,that-be-has the faculty of looking.about him and seeing what ieworth, seeing, and of making-his readers sympathise with his experiences.
The Laws concerning Puelic Health (Sampson_ Low), have been collected into a-large-octavo volume of some 800 pages' byDr. W. R.
Smith of Cheltenham, with a view to the convenience of medical officers of health and gentlemen preparing forexaminations in State medicine. The balk of the book obliges him to reserve for a future occasion a fall exposition of the various sanitary Acts of Parliament
from the standpoint of a medical man, with indications ofpoints-of insufficiency. There need be no hesitation be agreeing-with De.
Smith-that "it is a matterof deep regret that often surveyors and, inspectors of nuisances are appointed with little or.-no knowledge of those principles of sanitary medicine and engineering that are sa; necessary to a faithful discharge of their duties:" Thepresent volume is furnished with an index, but no commentary or referenceto illustrative eases%
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