NEW BOOKS AND NEW EDITIONS.

Press, Volume LXV, Issue 13609, 18 December 1909, Page 7

NEW BOOKS AND NEW EDITIONS.

THE INGOLDSBY LEGENDS.

The re-issue of the "Ingoldsby Legends" in such a dainty and attractive form as that associated with Blackie's Red Letter Library will directfresh attention to a work of humour which was a great favourite with the parly Victorians, and afforded a neverfailing source of entertainment at "penny readings," but which? has been sadly neglected in recent years. "Penny readings," we fancy, went out with crinolines, and the glory of Ingoldsby departed soon afterwards. It is a melancholy fact, recalled by Mr Henry NewbolD in his admirable "Introduction," that when, in 1903, two very capable critics —Dr. Richard Garnett and Mr Edmund Gasse —publL-Jied a weighty folir-volume "Record of English Literature," in which all authors worthy of the name wore treated at a length proportioned to their value, G. P. R. James received a notice some nine words long, and "Ingoldsby

Legends," with their author, R. H. Barham, were entirely omitted. Nobody, we tuppose, reads G. P- "• James now., bat everybody remembers the characteristic opening of his novels, telling us hiiw on a particular evening and in suci and such circumstances

•'two travellers might have been seen, etc. As for Father Ingoldsby. perhaps lit- is aot reed as much as he ought to bbye y but the "Jackdaw of Rheims" will be remembered as long; as facile writers indulge in hackneyed , quotations, vide Mr Barney Maguiivs accotint of t\i: Coronation, end the Honourable Mr isaicklethuinbkin's story of how my Lord Tomnoddy sat up to see a man hashed, but dropped otf to sleep, and so, i\i his "Lordship's rueful language, all the fun," will ndt readily be iVirgotten. Mr Newbolt, who makes an «xeellent selection from the Legends—omitting, we are glad to, note, the unappetising story of the • Lady Jane and her too-scientific hus- j band —hits off t!ti* truth very happily i when he says thai the essential part of j B<irham was his •'unflagging spirit, of fun , ' —that he "talongs to a time appreciably younger than our own, a gen- j oration mure copitlus and less self-con-scious, less careful of the boundary j that marks ofl thfi craftsman from the ■ amateur." For ourselves, we confess ; to being very gLld to meet an old frk-nd again in *uch a pleasant guise. (London: Blaekm and Son. 2s 6d net.) AN AMERICAN* MYSnC. America lias produced urany strange religious enthusiast, who havo had thoir little day and ceased to be, but few have become inoro widely known to the British public than Thomas Lake Harris, who certainly achieved one very remarkable feat in the conversion, albeit it dBl not prove permanent, of Laurencß Oliphant. the brilliant author, traveller, journalist, and man of the would. Oliphant. it •will be remembered, Veil so completely under his sivay that ho threw up a brilliant career and a good salary n order to join Harris on his miserable farm, where for some timo he humbly did his bidding, cartinp dung on to Mie fields and living the lite of the poorest farm labourer. True lit is that aft<v a time he threw off tfie spell, and even denounced the m»n whom at one time he almost worshipped as a great religious lender, but the- thraldom while it lasted was as complete, as it was inovnlicable. In ''The Life and World-Work of Thomas Lake Harris," h-r Arthur A. Cnthberf. "an arrsio<=t life loni we linve a detail d nronunt of Harris's teaching—of _Ihe "Tlse." and of the* ppv<ni mysterious degrees of "The Breatli," which vhv fnicli a prominent part fei h\s mystic: theology. Wo must warn t*p rodder, however, that the work, eithnr from t.Ti.« neoteric nature of the nnd want cf . lucidity i»i the stylo, is "by no mct|ns if undfTfl+nTxl'"fr. The exti'i'.cts fivrn from M.r Harris's "Ivric hrochure" lead us al«o to th" ooticlpcVti thnt- >>'■» roetrv as woll as his thooloßy Tx>. nnm-onclipd in th« snirit of a devont believer in order to be nropflrly apprecintcd. COlassrow: C. "W, I»raTC© and Co., 139 West Regent street. , )

THE RECOGNITION OF MTWERALS

A handy book for prospectors who have little or no training in mineralogy, but who wish to be abug to distirimiish minerals of commerdnl value when they see them, is "The Recognition of Minerals." by C. G. v Moor M \ F 1.C.. la+o resident cmlqnist to tho* Ashanti GoldfieWs Corpora Won. It gives not only practical field, tests easily applied in order to determine the nature of the minerals found, but describes briefly most mineral's of commercial value, and how to recognise them, tho uses to which they arc put, and the demand which usually <«usts for them. Concerning" radium!' we learn that it is contained in nearly all the uranium ores, while uranium ocrur* principally as pitchblende, which, fairly pur* contains from 70 to 80 per cent of uranium oxide. Pitchblende is said to be worth £8 c unit (i.e., i* for each ocr cent, of uranium it .eflntains). Besides being the prmciifrl source from which radium is extracted. Uranium is employed in colouring and porcelain, and, to a small ex+enn, in photography and analysis'. (London: Office of the "Mining ml." 46 Queen Victoria street, E.G., 7s 6d net.)

, A BUSH CALENDAR, A delightfully illustrated bcok of Nature study is "A Bush Calendar," by Amy E. Mack (Mrs Launcelot Harrison), which does for . Australia what Mr G. M. Thomson. M.P., has done in c similar work for New Zealand. Month by month we are introduced to some of the most attractive objects which can be noted in the bush by a. careful, loving student of Nature. There are no fewer than forty-two admirable illustrations taken from photographs, and the value of the work is enhanced! by ii very full and scientific list of this flowers blooming in each month, the birds arriving and breeding during the same period. (Sydney; Angus and Robertson, Ltd.)

MORE CHRISTMAS BOOKS

The stories of adventure published by Blackie and Son, Limited, as Christmas gift-books for boys enjoy a reputation which is world-wide. Two of them this year are the result of the labours of G. A. Hentv and Alexander Macdonild. We find the former in confidential mood; he has written historical tales until he cannot see a castle without framing a plan • to take it by assault, or a river without instantly calculating how he would cross it in tho face of an enemy. He has therefore turned to a new subject and written a story of adventure in Australia when natives and bushrangers prevented anyone who lived up-country from experiencing ennui. Reuben Whitney, the hero of "A Final Reckoning," reaps the benefit of a good education and becomes a captain of mounted police in quick time, and his adventures make a story which will eet nothing but praise from boy«.—ln "The Hidden Nugget" Alexander Macdonald also takes us to Australia, but it is the Western Australia of to-day, and ho gives a vivid picture of the mining country out beyond Day Dawn. The adventures here are rich and rare for they cpntre on the possersion of a nugget that looks like the father of all nuggets, and they abound in combats also the two boys, one English and one Australian, whose fortunes we follow, are good company, and fall on their feet like cats. The two books are excellent value at 3s Cd Some of the coloured illustrated Iwoks for children issued by the same firm are especially worthy of notice. Take for instance the "Boys' Book of Battleships." letterpress by Dr. Gordon Stables of the Royal Navy, and the pictures by Charles Robinson. Here we see traced by pen an<i bru.-h the evolut ; on of the battleship from the days of Homer through the Roman trireme, with its three benches of oars, to Genoese galleys, the great highpooped three-deckers of the Spanish Armada and tho more nimble warvessels of Drake, down to the first-class crii*ers and Dreadnoughts of the pre- ~ t { i av . The pictures are bold and strl-i"" notn * n coiour and draughtmauship, and the letterpress is clear and "to the point. For humour likely to appeal to the i- t+ i f o ik commend us to 'Tho Bunny Book" with drawing by Augusine Mac-Ore-or and rhymfs by Jessie. Pope. T} l( , Bunny policeman, the Bunny n-.<,t«-i-ts and alcove all the- Bunny child'en Jack.' J->ne. and Bill are coM.h-al in the extreme j, ; s years since Ethel turner secure,! "an appreciative -""hence .of yoim" people for her delightful stones,

and every year the audience grows 1.-rger. Her book this year, "fugitives from Fortune." wiL. increase her reputation, tor it is equal to the best work she has produced. The .fugitives are an American millionaire and his ; family. Tho millionaire, unlike any of that class of whom we have aver heard grows so-weary of his wealth and all that it brings to him, that he drops business, invests his money for the benefit of certain objects that he> has at heart, and brings his wife ami children out to Australia, where they proceed to live the simple life mifs most acute form, on a little island m the middle of a river. His house is tho plainest dwelling imaginable—n creiv one huge room, surrounded by tiny sleeping cabins, with as little turnitiiro as possible, and absolutely no 1.-xurios. The family wear a garb in keeping with the stern simplicity ot their home, and live on a vegetarian diet and milk, most of the food being giown by themselves. Obviously this return to Nature is too sudden and too , thorough to last. The family grow discontented, heredity drives the eldest boy into becoming an errand hoy. so that he raiif Income a business man. and that is th- beginning of the end of the millionaire's quaint experiment. H> i<= induced to see that the simple lite, as he imagines it, cannot satisfy tne natural aspirations of young pc-c.p'e, and adopts a moro rational mode of existence. A love story is interwoven with the latter part of the ir.r.ir story. and the lovers areas satisfying as most of Ethel Turners which is ravine a good deal. Altogether a delightful book tinged with humour,, with some admirable character-draw-in" and the wholesome atmosphere | that one learned to enjoy in the "Seven I Littie Australians." (London: Ward, i I Lock and Co. 3s 6d.) j

Two big books, which should roceivo a hearty welcome from many young roadcrs,' are "The Empire Annual tor Xow Zealand Boys." and "T he Empire Annual for New Zealand Girls. Notuincr better of the kind has been issued for this Christmastide. . Thorn is. it is true, nothing distinctive ot New Zealand about the books, but with that remark criticism ceases. Both c.-inHin a plentiful supply of good stories, those for the girls being as readable as those written specially tor the boys. Adventure in wild countries, tales of daring, natural "'story sketches, and articles on snort till the pages for the boys' hook, while for the girls there are, besides tales and natural history, series of articles on hobbies, Nature study, and physical exercises. Both books arc illustrated with a number of finely executed coloured plates and other pictures, and either*will make nn ndmirnble Christmas present. (London: Religious Tract Society, 3s 6d each.) BRIEF NOTICES. We are delighted to learn that the first edition of that charming booklet "The Finest Walk in the World," by Miss B. E. Baughan. has been exhausted. A second edition, which now lies before us, -contains fire additional from notes made by the author at the time the walk was taken. (Christchurch : Whitcombe and Tombs, Ltd., Is.) xT . "The Ruling Passion: A New lear Message." by the Rev. Thomas Tnit, M.A.. D.D., of St. Paul's Church, Christchurch, is a thoughtful and stirring address printed in an artistic shape and excellently adapted, both as to matter and form, to be sent to mends at Christmas and the New Year. For this purpose we have no doubt it will be largely in demand among Mr Tnit s congregation, many of whom doubtless will also like to securo a cony for themselves. (Christchurch: Fountain Barber, F. M. Isitt, and Whitcombo and Tombs. Is.)

The November "Pall Mall" is a number with a qooA deal pf variety. There are interesting and well-illus-trated articles on the work of the Lonoon City Police, women's home life in Uganda, sport and the budget, and the new science of the air. Mr G.., Wff. Smalley contributes memories of Sir Wilfrid Laurier and Lord and v -Lady Minto, and Mr J. H. Taylor, the open, champion, writes about golf. There-is a budget of interesting fiction. \ "Chambers's Journal" for November, has the usual sheaf of readable articles associated with this magazine. The article on tea and coffee will interest mest perils, and allay some fears. Another subject of wide interest is. the incandescent gas mantle, which is dealt with in a. long article. Among the other subjects dealt with-are Chinese smugglers, money .awaiting; owners in England, literary Scotsmen in London, the House of Lords, the Spanish beggar, and Halley's Comet.