A BLESSED GIRL (340 pp.)Lady Emily LutyensLippincott ($4).
The Rev. Whitwell Elwin was no ordinary Victorian clergyman. He was rich enough to demolish his parish church and build a new one, bold enough to design the blueprint himself. When Elwin's parishioners fell ill, "his Rev" (as he was called) was their doctor; when his wife had children, he acted as midwife. He had amiable eccentricities, such as cutting the Communion bread "into small squares, some for the communicants and some for his canaries." But the favorite hobby of this self-assured, broadminded parson was corresponding...