AMONG THE BOOKS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 13725, 15 April 1908, Page 9

AMONG THE BOOKS.

Lv "' A New Cinderella" (Long, 6s) -Mr. Fred Whishaw introduces us to the vulgar family and surroundings of one Jellibee, a city clerk. His patient daughter, Mary, is the heroine of a rather sordid tale, not easily associated with fairyland. Mary makes a mistake, and marries the kindly old friend, though the " Prince" comes to his own at last. Thus the novei ends on a happy note, and it is quite suitable for family reading. .Mr. Henry Nowbolt, whom, perhaps, we know best as a. poet —the singer of " Admirals All"lias written an historical romance of the fourteenth century, entitled "'the New June."' So the London correspondent of the New Yolk Times learns from him, with the further item that it will appear serially in Blackwood's Magazine. The hero of the story is the young Duke of Surrey,; nephew of Richard 11., and founder of a Carthusian monastery in Yorkshire. One hears of the narrowness of the " unco' guid," but it is hardly more stringent than the narrowness of the determined vulgarian who is secretly furious because you will not smoke her bad cigarettes, and accept the playful insults of her familiars, and admire her systematic Sab-bath-breaking, and her lawless ways. Really, when you look the matter in the face, she is just as cross as any Puritan can possibly be. All Bohemians are not goodnatured, and when Bohemianism has become a cult, and ceases to be really spontaneous, it is as savage and inquisitorial, front its own inverse ratio point of view, as is the most ferocious piety. —Margaret Baillie-Saunders. In "An Edinburgh Eleven" Mr. J. M. Barrie confesses to having once made a mighty effort to clout Lord Rosebery on the head. He says: "The first time I ever saw Lord Roseberv was in Edinburgh, when I was a student, and I flung a clod of earth at him. He was a peer; these were my politics. I missed him, and I have heard a good many journalists say that he is a difficult man to hit." It is the same author who tells the story of how his lordship came to realise the advantage of owning swift horses. His brougham had met him at Waverley Station to take him to Dalmeny. Lord" Rosebery opened the door of the carriage to put in some papers, and then turned aw iv. The coachman heard the door shut, and thinking that his master was inside, set off at once. The coachman drove seven miles until he reached a place where it was Lord Rosebery's custom to alight and open a gate. Here the brougham stood for some minutes, but at last the coachman became uneasy and dismounted. His brain reeled when he saw the empty brougham. He could have sworn to seeing his lordship enter. There were his papers. What had happened ? With a quaking hand the horses were turned, and driving back, the coachman looked fearfully along the sides of the road. He met Lord Rosebery travelling in great good humour by the luggage omnibus I