Mistress Phil. By Mary H. Debenham. (National Society's Depository.)—This is
an excellent historical—or, at least, half- historical—novel of the kind that forms a good gift-book of the higher order. The heroine, Mistress Phil, is one of those charming girls who, apparently without a past, drop down among ordinary every-day people and work wonders. This she does, at all events when she finds her way into the old inn and posting-house of the Four Swans' in Waltham Cross. She renders all about her happier and wiser than they were before she made her appearance in the character of a good fairy. Of course, in the long-run, her own mystery is explained, and she herself secures happiness. As it stands, Mistress Phil is a very enjoyable story ; and while his- torical, it is not alarmingly so. Its author has produced good work ere now, but nothing better, brighter, or more ingenious than this.
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