"COMFORT O'CONNOR."

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 18711, 17 May 1924, Page 22 (Supplement)

"COMFORT O'CONNOR."

A PLEASANT NOVEL.

Even in these days of the psychological novel, of minute analysis of mental processes in the-guise of fiction, there should be a welcome for a' plain, simple, unpretentious romance, pleasantly written. An example : .will bo found in "Comfort O'Connor," by T. C. Wignall (Hutchinson). 01t is; not likely to bo a novel of sensational sales, nor to establish any new. vogue ■ in'.fictional methods. It follows accepted conventions, yet' gives a glimpse or two ' of ; scenes not usually described with?so. certain or so human ; a ; touch. Fleet Street, the stage, both London and provincial, and the prize ring all .figure in the.-story. Sir Philip 'Oibbs " seems to have- set a fashion of pessimism. in writing of journalistic life, and, so far - . as he can be'pessimistic, this author follows it. He. soon recovers, however, and after the early / chapters, ' recovers ; a ; cheerful tone. Dealing with > the stage, r* he dwells but little on the glamour and glitter with which it. is " ten invested. He prefers .to emphasise • the' hard,*; unceasj:"3, / V ing work entailed before '/real; success can • be won ,in the theatrical world. . iiis prize -ring scenes are?largely. incidental, save that he indulges in one ■ fairly gory pMffe description :of ; a prize" fight- To ;. sum up, the book is pleasant rather than .powerfal, but is exceedingly well suited to occupy » leisure hour or two.

TORQUEMADA. TH E TYRANNY OF FANATICISM There is a school of pessimists who eagerly decry the' claims of human progress ' and maintain that s the boasted achievements of civilisation have cost so great a price that humanity has sunk rather than risen. This peculiar cult necessarily relies upon proposition rather than proof, and despises the conclusions of comparative history. Its exponents ; would , probably - resent their liberation from the gloom in which they dwell, but ; those who incline to a more cheerful outlook need not seek far for evidence that both morally and - materially the world has made some progress. There could hardly be a more salutary corrective for the doctrine of human stagnation than Mr. Rafael Sabatini's " Torqueinada and the Spanish Inquisition " (Stanley ; Paul and Co.). The activities of the Holy Office were not . confined to Spain, but spread throughout Europe but in Spain they - were developed : with a greater , intensity than in any other country, and though Torquemada . was neither the fir.it nor the last of the inquisitors, he has an eminence that no other approaches. The worst of the inquisition's evils are to be found in Torquemada's record, and the only defence of it is discovered in him.

I Mr. Sabatini has presented a complete j survey of: this remarkable chapter in the history of Spain and in the groping of humanity for spiritual enlightenment. His endeavour has been to maintain a judicial impartiality, on the ground that the _ Inquisition has no monopoly of religious intolerance, but had opportunities and power for persecution, such as others ■ have •' been denied. Few readers of his history, whatever their creed, will charge him with prejudice; if he has erred at all, it ; has been on the side of charity. For instance," while he recognises that the system was a hotbed of hypocrisy, he says it was itself not hypocritical. "It was sincere, dreadfully, tragically, ardently sincere, with the most hopeless, intolerable, .• and stupid of all sincerity— sincerity of fanaticism, which destroys all sense of proportion and distorts man's intellectual vision until with an easy consc-ence he makes of guile and craft and falsehood the principles that shall enable him to do what) he conceives to be his duty to his fellow-man." Yet there seems to be . the refinement of hypocrisy in" the manner in which those adjudged heretics were, flung to the flames. The Holy Office itself was forbidden to take life; those whom it condemned were banded over to the secular arm with appeals for mercy—the mercy of the • stake, and if secular officers had any inclination to shorten that measure of mercy, they were reminded of their . duty by the threat that to hinder the Holy Office was a form of . heresy. It is perhaps fruitless to pass judgment upon Torquemada, but to regard him as a product of his times is ' justifiable. In that light Mr. Sabatini's detailed history of the Inquisition's origin, development, methods and doctrines is instructive. It is a terrible story of human error in exquisite degree. ; To read it in the ?ight of modern .tolerance is to gain a deeper insight into the; frailty of the human intellect . and a solid 'appreciation of the progress that the world - has made';, not only in : igious liberty but in the safeguarding of individual life against the malice of neighbours and the tyranny of fanatics. '