NEW PUBLICATIONS.

Evening Post, Volume LXXXI, Issue 23, 28 January 1911, Page 19

NEW PUBLICATIONS.

? AN HISTORIC STUDY. "Henti 11. : his Court and Times." By H. Noel Williams, author of "The Women Bonap&rtea," "A Rose of Bstvoy," "The Fascinating Due de Ricfafeliou," etb. With sfevbnteen illustrations. London : Methueh and Co., Ltd. The authoi' of this admirable monograph has been faithful to the* special study in which he took honours eighteen years ago, as a dozen books, all on modern historyj some of which take the form of fiction, sufficiently prove. In each case the central figures or episodes belong j to French ( history, but our author's scheme is too comprehensive to be limited within the range of ond country or kingdom. He takes no narrow view, but recognises how inextricably the history and interests of any given country or personage are involved with those of their neighbours. His latest book is a good, example of the inadequacy of- any brief title to ipdicate completely the subject of an historic study worthy of Ihe name. To doVer the Subject outlined iii this Work would require one of those garrulous titlepages in which our eighteenth century writers and leisurely readers delighted — synoptical and descriptive to Buch An extent as sometimes to tax l<he ingenuity of the compositor to compresfc his matter into the space at his disposal. In this case the author 1 has chosen a pei'iad of European turmoil, in which hot France only but all the European Vbwers were involved, and wherein the chief actors> working for their own temporary erids) ¦were instrumental in bringing about events quite unldoked ioi which have left indelible iflarks on the histofry of the world. To b^gitt with the history of the King whdse name gives the title to the book would leave much to explain ; consequently the first seven chapters are devoted to the life and history of Henri's father, Francois 1., and his relations with the monarchs of Austria, Spain, and England, as well as with the Pope, some knowledge of which is necessary to an understanding of the life and history of his son. Mr* Williams has made a very careful and conscientious study of the poriod» and has shown unusual power in the marshalling of the large mass of details, general and personal, in the eventful period undei' review, and excellent judgment in the selection of such data as throw light on the actions and motives which chiefly shaped tho course of events. Beginning with the marriage of the heiress to Claude de Franco) w& find in the rich dowry she brought him in the shape of Brittany and a cluster of rich Italian counties cbvefcod by Austria^ the root of many years of trouble between the French King and Charles of Austria, and endless international intrigueß. The wife of Francis, reputed a saint, hated by her mother-in-law and neglected, had an Unhappy life ; her sohs handed btf 6r to Charles of Austria as hostages to redeem their father frdm captivity, had early experience of the hardships that may befall the great. It was in the reign of Francis that the treasury was impoverished by the splendid mockery of the English negotiations in "The field of the cloth of gold," in which neither side was sincere. Henri, like his father, was but a sorry king, and the real power was wielded by his mistress, Diana of Poictiefs; but it was in his reign that England was dislodged from the footing it had 'ong held on French soil, to the' lasting benefit of both kingdoms. How Henri quarrelled with the Pope; how the political disputes associated with the Reformation affected the position ; the fightings in Spain aild ih the Netherland ; the rise and fall of Montmorency; the intrigues of the Guises, resulting in the marriage of Mary Stuart to the Dauphin, and the cdmplications following; the death of tho King by misadventure at the hand of Montmorehcy; the complications with Spain through the marriage of the English Queen Mary — these and a hundred other matters are set forth with a literary skill and realistic power that make these pages more fascinating than a novel, for the author has the power to reconstruct the liffe of a splendid and corrupt Court, the ambitions, and intrigues of the great as the warp and woof of the •world's history crossed and recrossed, ahd the web unrolled from the •unceasing loom. The plates are all portraits of celebrities of tho period, from authentic and sometimes rare originals. The Pall Mall Gazette has published a good Christmas number. The frontispiece, in colours, illustrating some verses by Norman Gale, is a charming study of a merry juvenile party, and the same artist's full-page pictures of a Httle maiden listening at a clock-caso, is equal to the best of his work. "Snowed In," by Gouverneur Morris, is a Christmas idyl of the diversion of a benevolent American millionaire, Perceval Gibbon adds a capital episode to "The Adventures of Miss Gregory," and Jessie Pope's "Red Patsies Christmas" is good reading. "United Empire," the journal of the Royal Colonial Institute, completes with its December number its first year and first volume under its iww title, and in its greatly-improved and enlarged form, which, among Other attractions, includes illustrations. The articles are well selected, <md Mr. Scholefield writes on "NeW Zealand's Mercantile Marine," and Indulges in forecasts as to its destiny, holding that its future is on the sea, in support of which he quotes the splendid success of the Union Steam Snip Company. The review department is a feature of the magazine, and in additioli to books relating to the Empii-e, Commander Peary ' 6 narrative is noted. The critic incidentally observing that "the opening chapters of strenubUs desire and Unfulfilled hopes are much more convincing and interesting than the final chapters of achievement and ftilnhnehty Messrs. A. and C. Black's popular series of " Beautiful " books, issued at £1, all profusely illustrated in colour, how extends nearly to sixty, many of them ali'eady out of print. ' Two, published in 1907 and 1908 respectiVely f relate to Pacific lands— "The Savage South Seas '' and " New Zealand," and rate among the best of the popular illustrated books on these fertile themes. In the colour printing every resource of modern chromotypogfaphy is turned to account to secure high-class reproductions of the artistic originals. A third volume, " Australia," is now bo be added to this group, and we have reoeived an advance copy of one of the Elates — an animated surf-bathing scene y the artist, Mr. Percy F. S. Spence. In art books of this class the text very commonly takes a secondary place Mr. Frank Fox, who supplies the descriptive matter, appeals to nave taken his task very seriously, for a brief passage accompanying the plate bliowb that he deals, among other themes, with "tho potential value of Australian co-opera-tion in helping to solve the vast and always growing problems of Imperial defence and Imperial conservation. ' Tho Art Journal (Virtue) for December completes tho 1910 volume of the senior art magazine, which has now entered upon its eighty-second year. The frontispiece is en excellent reproduction in colours of Constable's " Trees near Hamnstead Church." Lowis Hind's interesting " Consolations of an Injured Critic " closed with the volume, and is brightened, as it has been fot the p>Bt

eight months, with typical art works illustrating the critical points discussed. "Art PatTonage in England," by R. E. D. Sketchley is also completed (it is the publishers' commendable custom to see that each annual volume stands by itself a complete unity). Two other ¦subjects, also completed, are td us among; the most interesting contents of the volume. "Furred Collectors," by Al. R. N. Hoimer, with charming illustration's by Alice Hoimer and Augusta Collifi, and v A Japanese Drawing Learan," by Sir F. T. Piggott. "The' Pilgrimage of a Soul," described as v a philosophical and spiritual poem," by C. G. Oyston, and occupying nearly a hundred pages, comes td Us from Ih© United States. It belongs. to a class of woi'k somewhat common of late years — visionary, didactic, and vagUe. In a series of short lectures in -various styles of ?erse, the author conducts liis readers through a greater range of spheres, circles, realms, and limbos than ever Dante dreamed of. The literary standard is not high, ahd the Scotsman, who observed concerning a book of poems Which had become very popular, that, after careful reading, he " could*na find ony facts," would probably pass a like judgment on "The Pilgrimage of a Sonl.*' The sole inimitable and imperishable story of the pilgrim is a parable, but such does not appear to ba tho desi«*i of the present little book.