BOOKS and AUTHORS

Dominion, Volume 22, Issue 116, 9 February 1929, Page 27

BOOKS and AUTHORS

A Weekly Survey

By

“Liber”

Give a man a pipe fie can smofce. Give a man a book he can read’! And his home is bright with a calm delight Though the room be poor indeed

—James Thomson.

BOOKS OF THE DAY Montrose. The full-length biography of Montrose, by John Buchan, M.P. (Nelson and Sons), is to some extent based upon the short sketch of that historic figure in the history of Scotland, which was written by Mr. Buchan in 1913, and was admitted ny the author to have been intended as the forerunner of the larger work, now published, in which the background of seventeenth century politics and religion should be more fully portrayed. Mr. Buchan now presents a brilliant and deeply interesting study of Montrose, who, leaving Oxford in March, 1644, with a sword of honour presented to him by that monarch he was to serve so brilliantly, and with the title of Lieutenant-General, had so meteoric a career as a commander. Marston Moor was a disaster to the royal cause which was sadly obstructive, but Montrose managed to get through disguised as a servant, and reached Tullibeltor, near Perth, and the house of a Graham of his kin. By close upon a year late.r, on August 15, 1645, the Battle- of Kilsyth, left him, as the final stage in a series of victories, the real master of Scotland, The fall of Montrose was as brief and dramatic as his rise, for after Phiiipbaugh, in September of that year, Montrose was ..never a power in Scotland, and five years later, on May 21, 1650, was defined to'meet his death on an Edinburgh scaffold. Mr. Buchan follows his career with the utmost care, and paints him alike as a military leader of great, and for a while, successful, audacity, and as a constructive statesman one whom it had been well had many of his theories been accepted and advice followed. It is perhaps questionable whether either the Scottish aristocracy or the Kirk, whose lack of freedom and the principles of tolerance, would have ever cast prejudices to the winds and shown that loyalty to the King and common-sense which Montrose preached in the programmes of policy he drew up. The victim of rival fanaticism, his portrait is drawn at length by his biographer in chapters, especially those headed “The Curtain Falls” and “A Candidate for Immortality,” which every Scotsman would do well to read, so graceful is Mr. Buchan’s style, so eloquent and thoughtfully prowerful. Montrose appeals most to the admiration of the modern reader as a military commander. Although we cannot altogether accept Mr. Buchan’s contention that “with a force such as, Charles repeatedly frittered away, he (Montrose) would have swept these islands from Sutherland to Devon,” he possessed talents of strategy and tactics whose only superior was “Ills unique power of leadership." The whole book is one which stamps Mr. Buchan as an historian of the first rank. (215.)

A Popular Prince and Princess. What with the ever- watchful press, the veil which, in early Victorian times, so largely enveloped the public appearances of the members of the Royal family, has to-day practically disappeared. The British public, both of the Homeland and the overseas, knows how Royalty lives, how it shares so closely in the everyday life of the people, especially in its sports and amusements-; knows, too, how intimately sympathetic are people and princes. There is, perhaps, less of that divinity real or imaginary, -which is supposed to surround the monarch and his family, but there is" little jack or -loss of; dignity in the coming together of, Royalty, and those by whom they are nominally ruled. First published in 1926, "H.R.H. The Prince of Wales,” a characteristic study by Major F. E. Verney, M.C. Hodder and Stoughton) at once achieved no small popularity, and now that a ppoular edition is placed on the market at the absurdly low price of seven shillings, It should have a widespread sale. Major Verney provides an exceedingly readable account of the Prince Apparent’s life, and whilst there is a most laudable lack of that gush which has only been too apparent in such biographies, there is a due appreciation of the many excellent traits In the Prince’s character. The frontispiece is a coloured reproduction of Mr. Munnings’s fine picture of the Prince, on his favourite hunter of 1920-21, Forest Witch.

Lady Cynthia Asquith’s intimate and

authentic “Life Story of the Duchess of York” (Hutchinson and'Co.), sets forth a biography which will be read with special pleasure by all who have had the pleasure of seeing a lady who, all over the Empire, where she has travelled, has so largely contributed to the popularity with the British people of her princely husband, the Duke of York. Lady Cynthia" tells of the simple and eminently sensible manner of education and upbringing with which the parents (A of the Duchess of York endowed their daughter, the youngest but one of the ten children born to the owners of Glamis Castle, and makes it plain to all who read her account of tha fine training by which the Duchess of York has so greatly profited that this daughter of an ancient Scottish family has enjoyed many and special advantages by which she must have notably contributed to' her success as the wife of a British Royal prince.. Mr. Philip A. De Laszlo’s fine portrait is reproduced in colour, as a protispiece. and there are a large number of other portraits and family groups. (10s.)

Richelieu. All who have read the history of France and have been specially interested in the life of that remarkable man, Cardinal (de Richelieu, should take notice of What is one of the bestwritten biographies of the great statesman published in modern times, "Richelieu,” by Karl Federn (a Viennese publicist, essayist and historian), an English translation of which by Bernard Mlall has recently been published by George Allen and Unwin. Those who only know Richelieu through Dumas or de Vigny (“The Three Musketeers”) and their sequels, or through de Vigny's romance, “Cinq Mars,” romances into which historical accuracy entered as little as did any dullness, will find that in Karl Feden’s narrative the great French statesman is quite another person. Richelieu found France feeble and torn by civil war, and surrounded by the dominibns of the Hapsburgs. He left it an absolute monarchy, which spread over a great part of Europe. Of Richelieu’s intrigues, of his stabilisation of the monarchy’s power, of both his public and private life, the Viennese writer presents a comprehensive and personal picture, adding many sharply etched portraits of the royal and other important personages of the time. This is a very fine book," the interest of which is greatly enhanced by the long series of illustrations by which it is accompanied. (165.). Charles Darwin.

Many lives of Charles Darwin, the famous scientist, have appeared, but Professor Henshaw Ward’s biography ' of “Charles Darwin, the Man and His Warfare” (John Murray), has many special features. His “warfare” —based upon the many important facts, and curious discoveries made during the famous “Voyage of the Beagle”—was waged always against ignorance, inaccuracy, and superstition. The growth of Darwin's theory is told here as part of the story of his life, and reveals him,'“not merely as Tone of a flock of evolutionists, but as an original and profound thinker.” The author enlarges and enriches his story by his sketches of Darwin’s associate^— Lyell, whose “Princples of Geology” had so stimulated the famous scientist upon his “Beagle’s Voyage”: Hooker, wise and devoted friend; Huxley, ever-ready to break a lance for the truth; Wallace, and Asa Gray. Darwin himself emerges not only as an eminent scientist, but as a broadminded Englishman, a devoted friend, a generous foe, and the best of husbands and fathers, as indeed a man of varied and marked abilities and sterling character. The book contains reproductions of many famous pictures and portraits of Darwin’s friends and associates, scenes of his youth and later days, and is possessed of a special interest and charm in being written in no dry-as-dust style, but as affording both entertainment and instruction to the general reader (275. 6d.).

RELIGIOUS ETHICS, ETC.

The Story of the English Bible. The aim of Dr. Jameis Baikie, author of “The English Bible and Its Story, Its Growth, Its Translators, and Their Adventures” (Seeley, Service, and Co.), has been set forth in what is a most laudably simple and straightforward style. Dr. Baikie traces the story of the English Bible, from the earliest days of Christianity in England to the present time, and gives an account of some of the scholars, saints, and martyrs, who have beeh mainly instrumental in giving a vernacular Bible to the English-speaking races. While, as the author says, the point of view is frankly Protestant, he has “endeavoured to avoid a merely partisan presentation of the facts, and to give credit .where it is due to the men who, like Erasmus, found themselves unable to go all the way with the Reformers, as well as to the merits of such champions of the Roman Church as the translators of the Rheims and Douai versions.” The book is divided into five sections: “The Bible Before Its Coming to England,” “The - Bible in England—the Middle Ages,” “The Breakdown of Mediaevalism,” “The Breaking of the Day,” and “The Authorised Version and After.” The illustrations, which are numerous, include many interesting portraits, etc. (10s. 6d.)

Protestantism v. Roman Catholicism. A A work which will be regarded and discussed from many varying points of view, especially at the present moment in Australia, is. “The Protestant Faith Contrasted With the Roman Catholic Faith’ (Angus and Robertson), by Mr. John Burgess, M.A. (Aberdeen), Hon. D.D. (St. Andrew’s). It is claimed to be the aim of the book to show that Protestantism is not merely anti-Roman Catholicism, but something positive, and not a mere negation; to prove that “so far as Roman Catholicism is a source of danger to personal liberty or national Independence, the one grand remedy is to be found on a return to the pure Evangel,” the autlidr, believing “that Protestantism, rightly viewed, coincides with Evangelical Christianity.” While in the subjects discussed “the highest personal, social, national and religious interests are involved,” the author claims “that all the questions should be calmly and impartially handled, and the services rendered by Rome to our common Christianity are therefore frankly acknowledged.” Mr. Burgess, however, further contends that “no one should be indifferent while attempts are being made to allure the youth of

' the Protestant Churches from their fi<ith,” and while Rome is, as he alleges, “putting forth every effort to gain supremacy in the political life of the nations.” We have set forth the main features of Mr. Burgess’s book which, however, cannot be, it will be seen, well-discussed in the columns of a daily newspaper (13s. fid.) The Paganism in Our Christianity. There is much both to disturb and yet comfort the orthodox believer in .Christianity in Mr. Arthur Weigall’s ‘The P a sanism in Our Christianity” (Hutchinson), for although it shows with startling clarity how certain Christian dogmas and rites have their origin in the dark welter of early Paganism, it builds up a picture of the historic Jesus fervently painted by one whose wide scholarship and searching criticism have evidently strengthened rather than diminished his beliefs in the divinity of Christ. The author was for year Inspector-General of Antiquities under the Egyptian Government, and is author of numerous works on the Pharaohs. Mr. Weigall throws considerable light upon not a few questions connected with the Prayer Book controversy. (10s.). LIBER’S NOTE-BOOK At the Haymarket Theatre, London, there has recently been produced a dramatic version of "Pickwick.” The Sam Weller of the production, Mr. Eliot Makeham, is curiously enough the possessor of what is believed to be the last letter written by “Boz.” The latter was addressed from Gads Hill Place, Highara-by-Rochester, to Mr. Makeham’s grandfather, John Matthew Makeham, in reply to a protest against the following passage in “Edwin Drood” (then running in numbers as a serial) :— Into this herbaceous penitentiary would the Reverent Septimus submissively be led like’the highly popular lamb who) has so long and unresistingly been led to the slaughter, and there would he, unlike that lamb, bore nobody but himself. To this protest Dickens replied under date June 3, 1870 (six days before his death), as follows:— It would be quite inconceivable to for your letter—that any reasonable reader could possibly attach a scriptural reference to a passagb In a book of mine, reproducing a much abused social figure of speech, impressed into all sorts of service on all sorts of inappropriate occasions, without the faintest connection of it with its original source. lam truly shocked to find that any reader can make the mistake. I have always striven in my writings, to express veneration for the life imd lessons of our Saviour, and because I re-wrote that history for my children, every one of whom knew it from having it repeated to them long before they could read, almost as soon as they could speak. But I have never made

proclamation from the housetops. Faithfully yours, Charles Dickens.

Large sums have, I believe, been offered by American and other collectors of Dickensiana for the copy of this “history” possessed by Sir Henry Fielding Dickens, K.C., still surviving, at the fine old of 81, but, to his credit, in vain. Most New Zealand book lovers who have visited London of recent years, will know Foyle’s big bookshop in Charing Cross Road. Foyles, who started business in a very small way some quarter of a century ago, with a few books, no capital, and at first an average of three customers a week, are erecting a six-floored building, with room for nearly two million volumes, on the site of the Old Goldbeater’s House, in Manette Street. At present each week some 50,000 volumes are b ught, 35,000 volumes are sold, 10,000 “wasted,” and some time 10,000 customers are served. Something JJke a bookshop. According to Kensington’s medical officer of health, sixty-five muscles of the face are needed to produce a frown and fourteen to produce a smile. It is easier to smile!

I have read in my time many good books which bore the imprint of Andrew Melrose, who, I see, died late in November last. He it was who first introduced David Grayson, the American writer, author of “Adventures in Contentment,” to the English public. One of his best finds was the Scots writer, George Douglas Brown, whose remarkably fine, though cruelly realistic story, “The House With tlie Green Shutters,” gave so completely different a view of Lowland Scottish life to that coming from what was once called “the kailyard school” of the Rev. lan Maclaren, and his followers. Last year Melrose’s business was absorbed by Hutchinson.

SOME RECENT FICTION “The Jade’s Progress.” In the past Mr. J. Storer Clouston, the author of “The Jade’s Progress” (John Lane), has provided special entertainment for the reader who likes good farcical humour by the series of stories of which "The Lunatic at Large” was the first to appear. His latest novel is a much more serious production, dealing with the marriage made by a naval man whose first love, Claire Livesay, marries a baronet, a thorough bounder, who holds her father’s honour in his hand. Disgusted with her sudden marriage, Rodney Hirst, who little knows of the pressure put on the girl, soon makes a foolish marriage with a handsome girl who believes him to be wealthy, but ’ when disillusioned, proves unfaithful. His cousin treats Rodney badly l with the deceitful Valerie, but repenting, leaves him a fortune which the jade his wife, leaving her husband under the belief he is doomed to poverty, endeavours by a clever trick to secure. Fortunately, a lawyer friend sees through the device. “The Jade’s Progress” has an unexpected end, and Rodney marries his first love, freed by the death of the baronet who had held her father’s secret.- A very well-told story of modern post-war society life. The Best Short Stories of 1928. To the “Best Short Stories of 1928,” the English section, has now been added the companion volume, “The Best Stories, American, of 1928,” edited, as was its predecessor, by Edward O’Brien (Jonathan Cape). Mr. O'Brien’s selection seems to me to have been wiser and better than in the English collection. The contributions include stories by Louis Bromfleld ("The Cat Which Lived at the Ritz”), an exceedingly clever study of American society in Paris; Dorothy Canfield, Irvin S. Cobb,

Fannie Hurst, Ruth Suckow, and many other well-known and greatly estemed American writers. I would have liked better had Mr. O’Brien included more of the younger men, such as Hemingway, but all those chosen are most readable. »