Flora, the Roman Martyr. 2 vols. (Burns and Oates.)—We con.
fess that we opened this book with some misgivings. The lives of the Saints of the Roman Church are seldom very interesting to the general reader, and we expected little more than a catalogue of more or less astounding miracles. We have been very pleasantly surprised. The author, who is anonymous, has succeeded in drawing a most graphic picture of life at Rome at the time of the Gordian and Decian persecutions ; and the martyr who gives a title to the story thoroughly enlists our sympathies. Nor can we leave without a word of praise the portrait of the young Gordianus and his faithful minister, Misithens. The contrast between the hopelessness of the noble pagan as he dies in the arms of the master be has served so well, and the triumphant firmness of the young Christian girl as she meets her cruel fate in the amphitheatre, is none the less telling because mt explicitly pointed out. In his preface, the writer says
that his book is without any literary pretensions ; but his descriptions are graphic, and his style, always easy and pleasant, sometimes rises to real eloquence.
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