IN THE LIBRARY

Northern Advocate, 17 December 1932, Page 7

IN THE LIBRARY

THE EMPRESS.

By Carol Oman

(London, Hodder and Stoughton.)

This Empress is Matilda, daughter of Henry 1 of England, and, by her second marriage, to .Jeffray the Handsome of Anjou, the ancestress of our Plantflgenet kings. Perhaps no sterner, sharsher, more cruel and yet capable race has over ruled England, if the conditions of the age and the problems to be confronted are taken into consideration.

Miss Oman’s method resembles that which is seemingly to determine one form of the new historical fiction, that to be found, for instance, in “.lev/ Suss,” “General Crack,” and their like. iShe takes a character, not too Avell known, and, building on tire little which has come down the ages to us, mostly from uncritical sources, be it said, certainly makes of it an interesting and arresting composition. The grand-daughter of the Conqueror, Matilda was obliged to play her part in the political game, first as a pawn, later as a novice at the art, and finally as a would-be Dower among the great ones of Europe. First married to Henry V, Emperor of Germany, at the age of eight, she was a widow at twenty-three, and childless. This earlier portion of her career is perhaps less interesting than that which follows, but even so there is power and strength in the handling. The description of the coming of the news of the sinking of the White Ship, which drowned Matilda’s only brother, leaving her the heiress to the English throne, is capably treated. It would seem that nearly all those on board wore well on the way to being drunk, and this is the story one of the two survivors, by name PAigle, told his particular friend the Norman knight Milo Fitz Walter, who brought the bad news to the Emperor and his wife.

He had found himself pressed tight up against a common fellow who had addressed him without invitation, “Can you swim much, sir?” and when he had pursed up his lips, and shaken his ‘ head in answer, the follow had asked, '‘What will you give me then if I save your life?”

He I’Aigle, deeming that the moment was not one for bargaining, had promised -the fellow his gold chain, and the fellow had told him to take off his cloak and jump overboard directly he called out. . . .

The AEtheling heard his sister’s cries, and saw her dancing ujjon her feet and sticking her fists in her mouth in an agony of physical terror. Crushed between strangers and coarse fellows she was beyond shame, having cast off gown and tunic, and she besought and cursed him in the same breath. The AEtheling was frightfully drunk, but he recognised her painted face among the scores peering down at him; he rose unsteadily to his feet and he spoke like a man.

“Musht save m-shishter,” said the AEtheling. “Poor girlsh. bashtard, but no fault of hers. Put back boat.”

He then sat down again, the boat put back, and the Countess de la 1 erche and fifty other people leapt into her.

The boat sank instantly, and do 1 Aigle never saw any of her passengers again, for just then his companion called to him to jump, and closing his eyes, he jumped obediently. The funny thing was that neither did he e\ er see his would-be saviour again, so he still had his gold chain! When he rose to the surface (hoping that death would come quickly, for he knew at once that he could not hang on to anything for five minutes in this cold) he had found himself clinging to a broken oar, together with a man, a total stranger, and-a lady in a green dress. The water around them was alive with writhing creatures, some of whom were behaving very badly. A great scullion had hammered on de I’Aigle’s fingers until the young man had been forced to let go of his precious oar. After that he had passed away into a swoon-like trance for some time, only dimly conscious of white-faced ladies whirling past him in their long wet gowns, and men swimming up to him.and pushing him down by the hair, but he must have continued to struggle for his life, for viicn he came to himself again, what '.seemed hours later, he was in company with a little biack-a-viscd man wrapped in a sheepskin coat, and they both had their legs and arms wound around the mast of “La Blanche Ncf.” The man said “My name is Berthould, and I am a butcher of Rouen,” just like a mummer introducing himself in a mystery, and de I’Aigle, spitting the water out of his mouth, and shaking it out of his thundering ears, had given answer, “And I am Godefroi, son of Gilbert de I’Aigle, a young nobleman, training up to arms.” Then ho had looked around, and seen that the sea was now bare of humanity, save for one figure swimming cxhaustodly some yards away. This person, hearing voices, turned towards the mast and called hoarsely to ask if the King’s son was saved.

"King's son! Pardie, non, monsieur,'' croaked the butcher in answer. "Tina young nobleman and you and I are alone above water."

"Then may God have mercy on mv soul, for the King would never have mercy on my body," gasped the man, flinging up his hands upon one of

[BY “THE BOOK-MAN."]

THE LONG RIFLE,

■which glittered a ring which de 1 ’Aigle recognised. The cold waters of the Manehe washed over the spot where lie had disappeared once, twice and again. . . . Such was the end of Etienne FitzEvrard, captain of “La Blanche Nef,” and such the true story of the disaster that left the Emperor's wife heiress of England. After the death of the Emperor Henry, Matilda returned to Normandy, and later to England. Her father Henry Beanclere, a man who ruled England firmly, wisely and well, according to his lights, was anxious to assure his heritage to her. Further, lie wished to consolidate his Norman frontiers, and so arranged a marriage between the widow and the young Jeffray the Handsome of Anjou. Matilda had no inclination that way. If ever she loved, it was her cousin of Mortain, him who afterwards, as King Stephen, became her most bitter enemy. Matilda had a will of her own, just such a will as might have boon expected of her father’s daughter, but the old king had his way, as was to bo looked for.

Jeffray and his wife mated ill, but of tliis marriage were born our Henry II and his brothers. We see wide and striking glimpses of the struggle for England which tilled the nineteen years following the death of Beauclerc. It was a grim time, one of the worst periods which plain Englishmen have had to endure. We are shown its lawlessness, cruelty, destruction and starkness in sharp and casual pictures which rivet it in the mind. Stephen’s reign has'been avoided by the weavers of fiction, doubtless because of the paucity of material, and of the difficulty, first of picturing it, and then of making it live with any prospect of acceptance. Hitherto the most outstanding novel touching upon' it has probably been Gull’s “The Serf.” Both these stories are realistic in their grimness, but “The Serf” is romance as regards its characters, while “The Empress” is almost wholly history, if somewhat imaginative, that is to say the personages are made to live, to say and to do what it is thought they.most likely did say and do, not what would tend to a picturesque and finished story merely.

Thus the objects striven for by this narrative arc probably three character presentations, etched scenes of arresting sharpness and point, and political motives. It must be confessed that a great measure of success has been secured in each. Some characters and indeed to some extent all, are, revealed as to their main attributes, but not necessarily in great detail. Matildaherself, .Stephen, the two Henries, and that fine Eobcrt of Gloucester, the silent man, aiid perhaps the beet of all we meet here, are well drawn, according to the author’s design and Taney. There are powerful scenes, particular!}-- perhaps Matilda’s two famous escapes, that from Winchester, and that from Oxford over the snow, the imagined meeting between Stephen and his fugitive nephew, the horrors of the siege of Oxford, the queenregent’s old age, and many another. Of the political motives and changes, frequent and often wholly unscrupulous in those times, it can at least be said that they are satisfying and as convincing as any such could be, no small matter in its wav.

The unusual spelling of the names is a little irritating: Jeff ray for Geoffrey, Loeys for Louis; and the months: Oietrouve, Delair, Joil. Fertile rest the book will be more enjoyable to readers who have some smattering of the people and history of the time.

By Stewart Edward White,

It would have been impossible to write “The Long Rifle” unless the author had had personal acquaintance with the country which is the background of the novel. The book is written by Stewart Edward White, and it is an informative as -well as an extremely interesting story. The author says that he has himself travelled with Andy Burnett, the hero, and other mountain men who made their names famous by the opening up of a new continent. The first half of the lltth century, which is the period dealt with, has been strangely neglected, and that fact alone makes the story of the adventures of the pioneer explorers vf the vast continent of America quite fresh and entertaining. 11 tells of how the original mountain men travelled with their pack horses along the rivers, trapping beaver, sometimes climbing steep and rocky mountains where goats could hardly gain a footing, sometimes crossing the dry and barren desert with parched lips and eyes straining for a tenaja of water, sometimes meeting tribes of hostile Indians eager for a, scalp, or white men of rival companies.

Each year there was a rendezvous at some pre-arranged spot, where skins were sold and storea renewed for the coming season. The story follows Andy through ten years of life in the wilderness, where he had his hardship and narrow escape, his friends and his enemies. The crack of his long rifle had echoed on the walls of the cliffs and canyons from the Colorado to beyond the Kootenai, and his friendship with the Indians opened up to him country which others could not penetrate. He learn-

ed all the customs and peculiarities of the Indians, and it all makes fascinating and interesting reading. He watched the slow change of conditions, and the havoc which the introduction of licjnor brought to the Indian,

The book is thoroughly recommended to all readers who like a wellwritten novel.