Steadfast and True. By Louisa C. Silke. (R.T.S.)—This is "a
tale of the Huguenots," and is a good specimen of its kind. The picture of the perils and anxieties of the Protestant confessors in France is made to contrast in a very effective way with the peace of the English home in which some of the sufferers find a refuge. The writing is good on the whole, but there are weaknesses which might well be got rid of. "A man with silvery hair but glowing countenance" is one of those false antitheses which are peculiarly irritating to the reader.—Through Storm to Calm. By Emma Leslie. (Same publishers.)—This tale also has a religious motive. This time it is the Methodist revival which is the main subject. The "Storm" is the fierce opposition which the worldliness and inertia of the time stir up against the new movement ; the " Calm " is the better mind which, by the discipline of events, is reached at last.—My Grandmother's Album, by Harriet E. Colville (same publishers), has something of the same character as the volumes noticed above. It is a sort of chronicle in which various events and characters of the century are put in a religious aspect. The setting is skilfully done.—Two Secrets. By Hesba Stretton. (Same publishers.)—The second, and in our judgment the more interesting, of the two tales included in this volume tells the story of the long-continued resentment of a father who stands, as he thinks, on the old paths against a daughter who takes up with new-fangled ways in religion. How be is brought to a better mind is well described. The story reminds us of Tennyson's "Dora."—Young Chris. by L. E. Tiddeman (Gardner, Dalton, and Co.), is a pretty little story of how a kind deed brought an appropriate reward.
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