NEW BOOKS AND PUBLICATIONS.

Press, Volume LVI, Issue 10333, 29 April 1899, Page 12

NEW BOOKS AND PUBLICATIONS.

With the present wonderful c**atary approaching its close, it is only natural that bistortaal reviews of its chief events and tho

men who have figured in them should make | their appearance. Mr Fisher Unwin has done well to get Mr Justin McCarthy, M.P./to deal with this eventful period in the useful und .attractive "Story, of the Nations" series.' Two volumes are to bz devoted to the work, and the first, entitled . "Modern England before the Reform Bill," ! now lies before us. The second, dealing with events of the century since 1832, is to be published shortly. * The plan which Mr McCarthy has followed seems to us excellent. He has not encumbered himself with details, but has sketched in broad strokes the chief political and social, developments, and the men by whom the changes hL.ve been brought about. In the brief period of tJhirty-two years dealt with in' the first volume we have brought before us Napoleon and "the Iron Duke," tho younger Pitt and Charles James Fox, George Canning, Huskisson, Daniel- O'Conneil, Lord brougham, Lord John Russell and Sir Robert PeeL .The.Napoleonic wars, the Congress of Vienrii* the question of Religious Disabilities in England, the Slavery question, and the,first Factory Acts, to say nothing of the Reform Bill legislation, all form momentous . .and ls attractive themes, which tax even Mr McCarthy's powers of allusive condensation to the utmost. We cannot say th-ft his style has the point and ease of the earlier volumes of his "History of Our Own Times." Still he has .made a very readable volume, and the information which he gives oug_t to be in the possession of every reader' who desires to. know what it is in recent years that has made Engksad great and prosperous among the nations. (London; - T. Fisher Unwin.)

The humour of one nation does not as a rule bear translation into the tongue of another. . Some of the flavour vanishes in the process. Possibly this is the case with "Two Little Runaways," which has been translated, -or rather adapted, by James Buckland from "Les Adventures de Jean Paul Cboppart," -'by Louis Desnoyers, but if so, all we can say is that there is stiß a very ! readable and amusing book left for the dei lectation of the English public. It deals I with, the adventures of a very naughty little I boy, a veritable "enfant terrible," who got I into ■ prison for stealing an apple. The \ gaoler's sou, who has much less original sin j in iris composition, but is also a naughty boy, I lets him out, and they, both run away together, getting into no end of scrrtpes. Unknown to themselves,;,they are watched over in their wanderings by an old servant sent by the father of the arch-imp, who hopes that tbe young incorrigible may be -tamed by "roughing.it" a little on his own account. As a sketch of infantile impudence-and precocity it is very amusing, and incidentally rone -rets some capital glimpses of Normandy and its people. There are'some telling illustrations by Cecil Aldin, who, it may be men- . tioned, visited Normandy in order-to make himself familiar with tbe scenes which form j the background. (London: Longmans, Green and Co. Christchurch: Messrs Simpson and Williams).

The popularity of .'-"In His Steps" will douokless lead to a rush for another work of the same author (the Rev. Charles M. Sheldon), v entitled "The Crucifixion of Philip Strong." It runs on-the' same, lines as the first book, but will hardly excite the same interest, the' novelty having worn off. Philip Strong is a minister who receives a simultaneous call to two churches, and selects Calvary Church, Milton, believing that there he will find harder work and-a greater sphere of usefulness. He preaches against the extravagance and selfishness of the rich, thereby driving away wealthy members of his congregation, and he incurs a good deal of odium and persecution by his crusade against the "saloons." Finally he dies in the pulpit under somewhat sensational circumstances. In some respects the book reminds vs t a little of "Joshua Davidson," by Mrs LynnLinton. The author evidently wishes to inculcate the idea; that if Christ were on earth now in the nineteenth-century the people would # crucify Him as they did. in the first. (London and Melbourne: * Ward, Lock and Co. Christchurch: Messrs Whitcombe and Tombs,) v .'

The Unseen Hand," by Lawrence L. Lynch. . This book opens with a ball in a suburban mansion, and a murdered man in evening dress being found at the door. It is devoted entirely to the .task of perplexing and' baffling the reader until the author chooses "to reveal the secret of the nmrdefer'- identity.' As literature it ranks little higher than the reports.of murders in the "Police News" or Reynolds's Journal," the.taste for which we had supposed had, with the advance of education, died out even in the servants' hall. ( (London and Melbourne: W«trd, Lock and Co. Christchurch.' Messrs Whitcon.be and Tombs.)

In '"Weapons of Mystery" Mr Joseph Hocking is running Mr Guy Boothbys methods, with a. good deal of Mr Guy Boothby's success. The hero meets a rather curious assorfcmsnt of. personages in tho country-house, of an old friend. .These include a very beautiful young lady, a strange Egyptian, wno rejoices in the name,of Abu Wady Kaffar, and a riiysterious person with green-tinted eyes, named Voltaire. • The hero falls in love with the young lady, is hypnotised by the parsonage with. green-tinted eyes— who, it is needless to say, is the villain of the book—-and,gets into very serious trouble over the Egypfean. The reader follows his surprising adventures m a whirl of .interest, and among other tilings learns a good many supposed facts about hypnotism, "which have long been familiar to novelists, but are' quite unknown to men of staetice. - The latter will be interested to learn from Mr Hocking that Dr. George Macdonald is a, complete antidote to the baleful influence of the hypnotist, and that if you only read "David Elflrmbrod'' you are safe against his spells.' (London and -Mehourne;-.Ward» Lock and Co. C-ristehurohs Messrs Whitcombe and Tombs.) . -

"Brown-. V.C.," by Mrs Alexander,-is a .story of Society life in.England woven round a plot of mysterious parentage, something like those Miss Braddoo-used to'delight in. The hero, as a baby, is left by his mother in a London boarding-house, f iad is brought up by the landlady. He enlists as a common soldier, but always shows himself brave, cMvalrous and well-bred, ofid consequently the reader evinces no surprise in the end -when be turns out to be a genuine member of the British aristocracy in the person of Lord Hazlehurst, (London: __r T.Fisher Unwin.)

The "Nationrd Review" for March maintain- its high character. ; Among the more notable articles may he .mentioned those on the Dreyfus Affair by Sir Godfrey Lushington, F. 'C. Conybeare and the Editor; "The Future of the House of Commons," by a Radical M.P.; "the Comedy of Christian Siieace," by W. H." MaDock: "Cyclones and Hurricanes' 0 by John Madden; rod "An American Religious Crusade,*' by Dr. William Barry.

• *I*he "Pall Mall MaR-arine'* for April is the Spring Number, and is bright and attractive as befits tbe season. In addition to the serials by S. R. Crockett raid Mr H. B. Marriott-Watson, there is a full budget of short stories and articles of general interest. In "The Ship and its - Story," Mr Clark: Russell has now. got to the most fascinating and. n_H*ve*lous .chapter—-that dealing with the birth and evolution of the modern steamer. Among the other contents mtJjr ]be mentioned ah illustrated article on "The Queen's Furniture at Windsor" and a second instalment of Mr C. Dana Gibson's brightly-written "Sleetehes in Egypt."