The Dark Shadow ; or, the Blast. A Tale. (R.
Washbourno.) —This is a small book, with many purposes, some of them (such as the desire to help prisoners on their discharge by giving them a reasonable hope of better things ; also the wish that the penalties of immorality, so far as society inflicts them, should be more evenly visited on mon and women) are truly good ones. No purpose, however, is advanced nearer to a fulfilment by such a mix. tare of sentimental piety and high-flown description—written, too, in faulty grammar—as this little tale contains. Some of the sentences are quite destitute of meaning. There is always a snepicion of weak- ness whore italics are too frequent, and very few of those pages are without them. The distortions of the foundation-truths of our com- mon Christian faith remind one of the effect of a cheap photograph on the well-known features of a dear friend. This book appears to be one of a numerous family, and with regard to such literature, the Church of Cardinal Newman and Father Mathew may well say, "Save mo from my friends I"
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