Strcvyding Castle. By Ellen Louisa Davis. (Religious Tract Society.)—M. Victor
Lesage takes the place of valet to the Earl -of Strayding, vice the unprincipled Merritt, discharged. It is easy to see that he is no ordinary servant. In the hunting-field—for his master mounts him—the local Duke recognises him as an old acquaintance, and a German nobleman greets him with en- thusiasm as a former comrade who had saved his life, and gives him a message from " lJnser Fritz." Meanwhile, he distinguishes himself elsewhere, teaches the rector's daughter to play the organ, and plays it on an emergency himself. In fact, so remarkable a person is he that nothing surprises us, not even when a tiger leaps -upon the young lady in Straycling Park, and is shot dead by the hero-valet with a pistol which he is carrying. It would spoil Miss Davis's story to say who he turns out to be ; let it suffice to say that he is exactly the person who is wanted. We have little fault to find with the story, except for a certain narrowness of thought. Surely Thomas-k-Kempis should not be called a "mystic" in any injurious sense of the term.
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