"CLOUDS AND SUNSHINE."


An appropriate _April_ book, too controversial for extensive quotation in
our pages, as the enumeration of its contents will prove. They are
half-a-dozen gracefully written sketches, viz. the Gipsy Girl, Religious
Offices, Enthusiasm, Romanism, Rashness, and De Lawrence. Half of these
papers, as will readily be guessed from their titles, bear upon "the
question," and are consequently, as the publishers say, "not in our way."
We are, nevertheless, proud to aver that the sentiments of these chapters
are highly honourable to the heart of the writer as they are creditable to
his good taste and ability. He is, to judge from his book, a good man, one
who is not so willing as the majority of us, to let his philanthropy remain

"Like unscour'd armour, hung by the wall;"

and we hope the forcible positions of the truths he has here inculcated,
will bestir others from their laxity. The most attractive sketches in the
series are the Gipsy Girl and De Lawrence. In the latter there are scenes
of considerable energy and polish. The hero, a profligate, after abusing
all the advantages of fortune, commits a forgery, and is executed. The
sympathies of an affectionate wife, in his misery and degradation, tend to
heighten the interest, and point the moral of the story; his last interview
with the partner of his woe is admirably drawn, as are some caustic
observations on that most disgusting of all scenes--a public execution and
its repulsive orgies. We give a portion of the interview, which appears to
us to contain some fine touches of deep remorse:--

"Accompanied by her parents and her infant, she alighted at the tavern
which adjoined the prison-house. Her father went immediately to arrange for