A Born Player. By Mary West. (Macmillan.)—This tale is of
the simplest. Matthew Hare, an inmate of the family of the Rev. Mr. Unwin, Independent Minister at Aldbourne, is being brought up for the ministry, but has a passion for the stage. He sacrifices his liking to conscience, breaks down under the trial, follows the bent of his genius, and is removed, happily perhaps, from further conflict by his premature death. The processes through which he lives, and those by which Mary Unwin, who loves him and whom he loves, is educated into a broader faith than that of her bringing-up, are well described. The story, too, is illuminated throughout by a fine appreciation of natural beauty, and the style is good. Miss West seems to know some- thing of the inner life of Dissenting communities ; but she is mis- taken in thinking that an Independent must "of course" be a Calvinist. There is no "of course" in the case. Independents often are Calvinists,—or, should we say, used to be P Logically, a Baptist must be a Calvinist, but the baptism of children is, in its essence, a protest against Calvinism.
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