THE BOOKSHELF.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20620, 19 July 1930, Page 8 (Supplement)

THE BOOKSHELF.

QUEEN CAROLINE. . ENGLAND'S ILL-USED QUEEN. In " Queen Caroline" Sir Edward Parry tells the story'of Carolines the Woman rather than Caroline the Queen. With something of judicial discrimination and insight ho lias sifted the truth from the shroud of gossip and untruth that has over surrounded Caroline's name, and has drawn a portrait of this injured Queen of England that has a genuine ring of authenticity and all the vividness of life. The appeal of Caroline's story lies in the very natural claim she lias on the sympathy of all who hate injustice. Her courago against almost overwhelming odds was undaunted, and its very quality is alone sufficient to call up an answering thrill of admiration for its possessoi. Her father wits the Duke of Brunswick, whose reputation as a famous soldier was worldwide. Caroline worshipped her father, and as her later life was to prove, she had many of the characteristics she so blindly admired in him. Caroline was lively, witty, kind-hearted, and sensible. She lacked, perhaps, from the point of view of the English court, something of dignity and reticence, 1101 was she particularly interested in clothes. She went to England to marry the Prince of Wales, young, full of good intentions and determination to fulfil her high ollice. Ho had agreed to the marriage under pressure of his debts, and had no intention of changing his profligate life, l-roin the moment of Caroline s arrival in J!<ngland she met with nothing but slights and insults from her future husband. However she showed her good sense, shed no tears, and made the of her difficult position. . , The Prince was indeed his wife, s evil genius. l'rom the day of her marriage until her death he persecuted her with insult and cruelty. After the birth of her daughter lie separated from her. She was given Montague House to live in, and she accepted her lot with no thought of malice, or injury to her husband. 1 his scandalous persecution of accepted queen is a most shameful blot i" English history. Many good and great Englishmen sought to protect her, but so strong was her husband's influence as Prince and King that they were powerless. He separated her from her daughter, after which she decided to travel abroad. When George 111. died, Caroline announced her -intention •of returning to England. George sought to divorce her, but she was a' true daughter of Brunswick and never wavered in her determination to return and defend her. honour. At least she had middle-class England on her side. With few individual friends, hut the courage of innocence, she defied the King her husband. Her judges dared not find her guilty, but the long persecution at last told its tale. Her health was broken, and death brought release. The King added further insult to her dead body by refusing permission to the funeral to pass through Loudon, but the people stepped in and, by barricading streets, insisted on it taking" its proper course. Her body was sent to Brunswick and buried beside her father. So ended the life of one -of the bravest, most unhappy Queens of England. Sir Edward Parry tells his story with sympathv, but judicial fairness, and brings truth to modify the over-romantic atmosphere which has grown around the selfish profligate King, who was called by sycophants '-'the first gentleman of Europe." " Queen Caroline." by Sir Edward Parry (Benn).

NEW AMERICAN WRITER. ARISTOCRACY IX MELTING TOT. " Coronet" is not a translation, nor is it interwoven with the impenetrable ■ Russian gloom. Manuel KomrofT; was born in New York, and though his anccstrv lias made him a revolutionary, the laud of his birth lias endowed him with the constructive spirit of democracy. The title of the book might well have been " Coronet and Whip," for he makes these two articles the symbols of power and oppression, and uses them to launch an attack on aristocracy, whether oi birth, intellect or wealth, an ingrowing canker, which feeds on itself till it falls into decay. The coronet and whip first appeal* in the possession of a master goldsmith of Florence in 1600, at the time of the Renaissance, the coronet destined to be buried with its owner, a French Count, and the whip carried off after re-» pair bv a Russian pritiCft. '1 hey reappear in 1812, in the, Napoleonic wars, leading to a brilliant, description of the Russian retreat.

Tlic two articles arc oneo more in the possession of one man. aild from the o\eithrow of military aristocracy they load the action into the presence of Chopin, Balzac and tile arts; then tn Nietzsche and the apostles of the intellect: to he cast into the movements of the Russian army in the world war. Both arc the properly of a Russian officer., who meets .in ing'lorious death at the hands ol a voung Jewess, and is buried \yith tjio silver' v.hip beside him I>y the Tartar inkui gents. I Jut the coronet is carried on id ;u.'t as 1 i»e itaii lo ensnare the daughtei of :l Chicago ho« king, and is the entire marriage portion, e.\rept his of a descend.mL of that I'rench count who first, owned it. The hook is an ambitious project, -•airied on', over an immense field. Its lone conversations, which could have been replaced by narrative, are apt to he wearisonif. 13'.it. there canbo no doubt the Mr. Komroft li:is successfully curried out his object, and achieved a memorable, work. " Coronet." l>y Mnnucl KonirotT (Harrop).

STORY OF OLD PRANCE. U [•'!■; OK TWO SISTiaiS. " Cecile." by F. L. Lucas, was braekelted with " 'J lie Lost Crusade," by D. Mtii)', in the award uf second prize in Clialto and Windus* historical novel competition. A prejudice exists against prize novels, since they rarely appeal to the discri|iiinating reading public. " Cecile" would appear to he one of the exceptions. Mrs. Lucas writes of eighteenth century France with a naturalness and simplicity that enhances the charm of " old, unhappy, far-oil' things." With insight and delicate perception, she unfolds tiio trouhlcil married life of two sisters. Andrec and Cecile. The hook opens delightfully with the reunion of the sisters. Cecile is to lie married, and Andree conies home for the wedding, and forthwith becomes the hook's central attraction. Mrs. Lucas develops her theme through recourse to the social ami political life of the time. There is much talk and attendance at the celebrated salons of the day. Kousseau is a vital force, and Ar.dive/s husband is a devoted disciple. Cecile s husband by contrast is a religious fanatic, and disapproving of Ids wife's gay social life, he causes a lettro de cachet to be used against her, and she is imprisoned in a convent, a not unusual occurrence in those had old days. The historical background is interesting, hut. il is tho charm of Androe's personality that captures the reader, and makes the book ono to live 011 in the memory. " Ocilo," by F. L. Lucas (Chatto and WiiklUH).