NEW BOOKS.

Press, Volume LXI, Issue 12027, 31 October 1904, Page 5

NEW BOOKS.

A new book by 'Miss Marie Corelli is always secure of a, heavy demand. She ■has hosts* of admirers, who welcome everything from her pen, and there are -many others who are not in love with her style, but are always moved by curiosity to see the newest shape her literary activity has assumed. In "God's Good Man" sho has broken new ground, but we fancy even her admirers will he disappointed with the result. She lias set up as her hero a country rector, well past forty years of age, whom she conducts to a happy marriage with a charming, but capricious, young "lady of the manor" a good many years his junior. This necessifates the introduction of some types of rustic character, and Mi*«■ Mnric CoVclli certainly does not f»hine "in this description of portraiture. In point of qua.intne.<!*» of humour they aro immeasurably below Miss Fowler's work in tli-e' same lino, to say nothing of that left to us by.George Kliot* whom indeed it would be profanation to mention in the ?ame breath. Nor does the author reem to us very happy in- her treatment of her hero,- the- Reverend Jolm Walden. vShc is evidently under the impression that, sho i<) describing an ideal t nr.an, a gentleman as well as a Christian, ret sHo allows him not only to listen to the tattle of, servants aibout their mistcra and mistresses, but even to "pump" them for information as to the doings and sayings oC the latter. Miss Cbrelli, it is •well-known, has a very strong feeling against. the aristocrary and the "smart set," but it seems to us thai in dealing with these she either writes a good deal without knowledge, or else allows her feelings to warp her sense of fidelity to nature. Take, for instance, a Duke who ia shown, over the Reverend John Walden's church, and is asked in the clergyman's presence whether he is not pleased with the way in which the restoration of the church has been effected. "Oil, I don't know anything about it," his Grace is represented as repivinsr; "with the ! air of a sporting groom;" ."I've no ta.«te> at all on churches, and I'm not taking. any m old coffins! It's a nice little chapel— just enough for a small village I should say. After all, don't-chor-kno'w. you onW want very little accommodation for a couple of hundred yokels, "and whethor it's old or new architecture doesn't matter to 'em "a bras* farthing." We are- informed in the dedication that- <h* Reverend John Walden has. a living original. We shall f not be surprised to learn that in other respects the writer hns drawn ' n her personal fTirrotmdinjw for her material.' Th?re is tio doubt, in our mind, that "Riversford" is Stratford-nn-Avon, where Mot Marie Corelli »t present resides, and flip will only have herself to blame if thn residents in thai intonating town do not identify some of the character* held up to opprobium in the book, with sundry local personage* with whom the writer is reported to have come into conflict from time to time. It this i* so. it is taking an unfair advantage of a writer's power and privileges, and in our opinion the art of the book is far below" the level of excellence which might help to-blind one to errors in cood taste. (London: Methu*n and Co. ; Cbrirfchurrl!: Whitcombe and Tombs. 3s 6d and 2s 6d.) Tlie "Scarlet. Clue" by Mr Silas Hocking, shows the same judicious blend-

idg of the ultra-sensational with a "moral" time which has made him- a prime favourite with many thousands o£ readers -who would recoil from the idea of reading a "frivolous" book. ' Personally we are not able to sympathise with thia attitude of mind. It seems to us that exciting details regarding mysterious crimes and their vn r ravelment* do not form the most wholesome mental pabulum, and that the enervating effect of such literature is not redeemed by the fact that the real criminal meets with hie deserts -in' , the end,; or that the record of his misdeeds is interspersed with moral reflections by tho more virtuous characters. Nevertheless, it mustbe admitted that Mr Hocking is clover in hi? construction of plots and as a purveyor of misational fiction has few living superior*. He also usually gives the reader plenty for his or her money. In "The Scarlet Clue , " he starts off with the murder or supposed murder of a squire's son by a vicar's son in the English Lake District, and the mysterious death or supposed death of an English girl in the Austrian Tyrol. . The former it is clear, from the first is at the worst only a case of justifiable homicide and it is left, to the chief actor in the drama—who, by the way, adopts a literary life—to unravel tne wcond mystery. It< is only doing Mr Hocking justice to say that as usual he keeps the attention of the render chained throughout. (London: Frederick Warne and ■Cα. Christchurch: Fountain Barber. 2s 6d.) * The following attractive sixpenny editions are to hand from Mr Fountain Barber:—'The Mark of Cain," by Andrew Lang (Bristol: J. W. Arrowefnith); "A Second Life," by Mrs Alexander (London: Hutchinson and Co.) ; "The Indiscretion of the Duchess," hv Anthony Hope (Bristol: J. W. Arrowsmith and Co.); "The Second Opportunity of Mr Staplehurst," by V\. Pett Ridge (London: Hutchinson and Co.) ; "Johanna," by B. M. Croker (London : Mrthuen and Co.) ; "An American Emperor." by Louis Tracy (London: C. Arthur Pearson, Ltd.)