Gentleman Jackson. By H. Frederick Charles. (Religious Tract Society.)—This story
has a general resemblance to "John Halifax, Gentleman," but nothing that can be called imitation. Edward Jackson is the son of a wretched creature who has once been a
gentleman, and he raises himself from the depths of degradation, into which his father's fall had brought him, to a very creditable position. The struggle upwards, not a mere struggle for Money and position only, it must be understood, but for the things which make life really worth having, is described with much force. Edward meets with friends and adversaries ; the latter, however, have nothing worse about them than thoughtlessness. Alto- gether, his story is pleasant and instructive, and as likely to be profitable to its readers as anything of the kind can be.—From the same publishers we get several other stories, which we must dismiss with a brief notice :—Forestalled, by Edith C. Kenyon, is a tale very much taken up with love-making, an element which seems to us to be mingled in an increasing proportion with the gift-books that are now published. The bad young man of the story yields to a money temptation, and tells a secret which injures his employer's business. We fancy that such trade secrets are very rare in these days ; but the incident is used effectively.—Dick Delver, by the Author of "Count Renneberg's Treason ;" For the Sake of a Crown, by Mrs. Frederick West ; and Audrey's Jewels, by Emma Leslie, are three historical tales. It is generally the case that the nearer the epoch to our own time, the more real the pictures, and this rule probably will be found to hold good. We certainly found the third of these three a vigorous and effective tale. Audrey is an interesting heroine, and her struggle out of the narrow Puritan associations of her childhood into a liberty which does not at all mean an abandonment of principle, is well told. The " witch " is another character in which Miss Leslie seems to have caught successfully the reality of that which she seeks to portray. It would be unjust, however, not to mention the care which has apparently been bestowed on the historical details in Dick Delver, and its merits as a story, and the interest of a somewhat melancholy kind, it is true, which may be found in For the Sake of a Crown.—My Brother's Friend, by Eglanton Thorne, might almost be described as a love-story pure and simple. It is excellent in tone and pur- pose. But we prefer this sort of thing in the familiar shape of a three or two-volumed novel.—The Last House in London, by Crone Temple, is a romantic tale. Alice Galbraith leaves her husband in a very great hurry indeed, without waiting for the explanations which any sensible woman would have hoped, or even expected, to receive. As a matter of fact, wives do not leave their husbands except under the pressure of direst necessity. Still, we must put up with the improbability, as without it we should not have had a very pleasant story. The two brothers, Elliot and Stephen Lindley, and the Tarver family, and Jenny Elliot, are all interesting people.—Mr. Mygctle's Hobby, by Darbey Dale, is a book about spiders put into a setting of romance. It would be difficult to imagine a more improbable story ; but there are people who like to get their natural history in this shape, and they will have exactly what they want.
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