CURRENT LITERATURE.
Michelle, and Little Jack. By Frances Martin. (Hurst and Blackett.) —Both of these are, in their way, striking and powerful stories. But while we admire Michelle very much, we must not own to not seeing the meaning of Little Jack. It impresses the reader indeed, but the impression is merely painful. A poor woman is cruelly wronged by the avarice and falsehood of a creditor, who denies a payment that she has made. She loses her child by a flood ; her husband dies of decline, and she drowns herself. These dreadful miscarriages of justice do occur in the world, but wo doubt whether they are good subjects for art. A novel, like a picture, Should represent a whole of some sort, however small. This is a mere fragment, and powerfully as it is painted, we cannot praise it. The other story is of a very different quality. As we finish it, we feel that we have been reading a real chapter of life. The struggles of Michelle's conscience, her repentance and restitution, her sufferings, and her ultimate happiness, are all very well told. The scenery, too, of the narrative is very well described, and the whole makes one of the very best of the short tales which we have lately read.
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