LITERARY.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXI, Issue 292, 8 December 1900, Page 2 (Supplement)

LITERARY.

"The Isle of Unrest" is, if no! equal to Mr. Henry Merriman's best book, quite as good as the "Slave of the Lamp,*' or "Phantom Fortune." The scene is laid in Corsica during- the stormy close of the third Napoleon's reign ' when local feuds revived throughout the islands. We are concerned with one only between two clans, the Peruecas aud Larolas. The former are the stronger of the pair, and whenever a Larola becomes unpleasant they spit him genially with a picturesque stiletto. Curiously enough, the beads of. the. clans are young folk (boy and girl), who were brought, away from Corsica in early youth. They return as strangers about twenty and find the border oi: their estates a veritable scene of battle murder aud sudden death. What can it, be? lCveii the local priest, Abbe. Susini, who has lived at Bastia, cannot tell you. Certainly we must not. Turn to the book for that, 'lhe Isle of Unrest" is certainly one ol the best novels of the year. It has been issued, nicely illustrated, in -Messrs Macmillan's colonial library, ami Messrs. Wildman & Lyell forward us a copy. "A Man of the Moment;" it ia a striking title and one that, is especially appropriate at the present time. Lut beyond hitting ova good name tor his new novel, Morice Gerard lias given us j, slorv distinctly superior to anything we have yet had from his pen. It is"a romance Hie central figures in which are a. strong man on whom the l.iiglisli ministry are relying in a crucial moment, in the nation's foreign affairs, ami a beautiful woman who is in the Russian secret service. The novel is a, stirring story of deep intrigue, I'ascinatingfv told, and may be relied on In interest most readers; of fiction. Messrs Ward, Lock and Co.. in whose colonial library the book has just made its appearance, forward us a copy through .Messrs Wildman and Lyell.

The second issue of John Murray's new venture. "The. Monthly Review,' does not in artistic excellence or the quality of the matter fall short of the standard of the initial number. The three editorials, "The, Empire and Militarism," "Our National Character," and "Cecil Rhodes," are, if not marked by any great brilliancy, at least good, strong, common sense. The articles are all fresh and readable. E. de Marten's "Europe, China, and the Peace Conference" is especially attractive, while a more than usually clear article on "Anglican Church Differences" is contributed b** Rev. H. C. Beeehing. A cosmopolitan taste is catered for by the other contributions, which include: "The Trans-Siberian-Manchurian Railway," A. R. Colquhoun; "National Defence," Ralph Neville, Q.C.: "The Naval Exhibition at the Hague," Professor J. K. Lnnghlon; "The Modern Study of Gothic Architecture," Paul Watcrhouse; "The Murder of Pompelia," \V. Hall Griffin; and "Some Chinese Masterpieces," C. J. Holmes. Chapters IV. to VI. oO Anthony Hope's "TriStani of Blent," and some verse by Laurence Binyon gfve a toUch of lightness to the whole. The illustrations, of which there are several, are distinctly good. Judged on the first two numbers, the "Review" will be a welcome addition to the ranks of the serious periodicals.

There is an amusing article in "Chamber's Journal" for November on Australian marriages under the felicitous title "Essence of Matrimony: Eucalyptus Brand." The same number contains three very readable short stories in "The Silver Lotah," Mayn. Lindsay: "An Escape," Alan Oscar-, and "Nixon's Armistice," Harold Bindloss. The best of the articles are "Chinese Cooks," "Cuba as a Field for Emigration," "Parliamentary Anecdotes of Sir William Harcburt," and "A Question of Industrial Supremacy," by James Burnley.

Mr Leonard Merrick is a man from whom much has been expected since he wrote that exceedingly clever novel, "The Man Who Was Good," but somehow he has not "arrived" yet. Mr Merrick's new novel, "The Worldings" (issued in Murray's Imperial Library for the Colonies) boasts an old, old plot. We all know the hero in the Australian bush who, tempted by his just dead "pal's" inheriting a large fortune, resolves to personate him. Mr Merrick lets the widow of the defunct lure his hero 1o sin, she being influenced by purely financial considerations. Afterwards things take their ordinary course in such tales. Marcus goes home, is accepted and loved by all, marries his cousin, becomes a prey to remorse, and is finally "given away" by his confederate.

Fleet-street' has been responsible for many silly rumours and sayings, but seldom (the "Saturday Iteview" asserts) has one emanated even from that laboratory of fiction so entirely foolish as the story that has been going the round of the Grub-street clubs and coteries, and there even believed, that Mr Alfred Harmsworth had bought the "Times." The report is, of course, absolutely without a shred of justification. If was, moreover, improbable in itself. The important house in Carmelite-street has at present surely quite enough on its hands without taking over 'Tonans," even if "Tonans" were willing to be taken over, which it is not. llow do these silly stories come into being? One can only suppose that, the boaconstrictor tendencies of halfpenny journalism and snippet literature had produced the impression that nothingwould be too large for its embrace or I too tough for its digestion. If you desire an acute attack of the : dismals, read Mrs L. T. Meade's novel | "Wages." The hero is a great^tcrve doctor, who drinks on the sly, whilst devoting his life to cutting oil' other's libations. His beautiful little sister 'also imbibes unlimited brown sherry and eau de cologne in secret, and another girl frankly goes in for bottles of brandy smuggled homo by her : dressmaker. These 'engaging creatures are duly discovered, and half cured by Dr. Stavordale in the intervals between his own bouts. The latter take place in the physician's own room, and are suspected only by his venerable nurse. This faithful creature distracts the attention of the other servants by putting syphons of soda outside her master's door and ingenuously assuring the butler he is out of town. Ultimately salvation turns up in an American quack with a hospital at Hampstead. He administers a drug j which wipes out all tendency to dip- | somania iv a jiffy, and presumably everybody lives soberly and happily ever after taking it. "Wages" being a gruesome temperance tract, wo suspect the author's technical details are | incorrect, not, to say impossible.