WITH PAPER-KNIFE AND PEN.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1213, 31 May 1895, Page 15

WITH PAPER-KNIFE AND PEN.

" Chapters from Some Memories," by Anne Thackeray Ritchie. Macmillan's Colonial Library. (Wellington : S. and W. Mackay.) This is a budget of reminiscences from the pen of Thackeray's daughter, and very bright and interesting reading they make. Mrs Ritchie inherits to a large extent her illustrious father's graceful, fluent style, and she tells us a host of good stories of literary, artistic and other celebrities with whom she came into contact in her youth, and not a few anecdotes, hitherto unpublished, concerning the great novelist himself. Such diverse characters as Count D'Orsay, Charlotte Bronte, Mr Richard Doyle (the "Dicky" Doyle of Punch), Thomas Carlyle, Lablache and Sontay, of operatic fame, Charles Dickens and his family, Sir Edwin Landseer, the great animal painter, John Leech, the Punch artist, Mrs Kemble, the actress, and scores of others appear throughout this pleasant little budget of old-time memories, and although at times the gossip may seem somewhat trivial, there are many anecdotes which are both new and of very great interest. Mrs Ritchie's book is one which should be bought and treasured as a precious possession by all admirers of her father. Especially do we commend it to those who may have given foolish credence to that oft - repeated libel on the author of 'Pendennis,' viz., that Thackeray was a soured cynic, as disagreeable a person in private life as Dickens j was proverbially charming. Never now that Mrs Ritchie's book

has appeared* should this libel be repeated, for the pictures of the Thackeray family's home lifo are redolent of the great author's oheery humour, his lack of literary "posing" his kindly and practical charity. We are sorely tempted to quote a few of the many stories Mrs Ritchie tells of her father but this the. limits of space wili not allow. For one> however, which shows how humorously and gracefully Thackeray could do a charitable act, we feel compelled to find space. An old English lady in Paris had fallen on evil times and was visited by Miss Thackeray and her sister. As to one result of their acquaintance let Mrs Ritchie speak :

" I think if it had not been for her help and that of my grandmother our good old friend would have often gone through sore trials. When my father himself came to Paris to fetch us away, ho was interested in the accounts he heard of the old lady from his mother and cousin. And Madame is the heroine of a little story which I have seen in print somewhere, and which I know to be true; for was I not sent one day to search for a certain pill-box in my father's room, of which he proceeded to empty the contents into the fireplace, and then drawing a neat banker's roll from his pocket, he filled up the little cube with a certain number of new napoleons ; packing them in closely up to the brim. After which, the cover being restored, he wrote the following prescription in his beautiful even handwriting :— Madame P To be taken occasionally when required. Signed Dr. W.M.T. Which medicine my grandmother, greatly pleased, promised to administer to her old friend after our departure.

"In the Lion's Mouth," by Eleanor C Price. Macmillan's Colonial Library. Wellington : S. and W. Mackay.)

"In the Lion's Mouth" is, as its subtitle informs us, the " story of two English children in Prance in the stormy days of the great French Revolution." Two orphan children, a girl and a boy (Betty and Constantine Maynard); are left in charge of their uncle, Julius, an unprincipled scoundrel who owes the estate a large sum and who determines to manage it nominally for the children, but in reality for his own selfish benefit. The uncle gets them out of the way by sending them over to France, ostensibly because they can be more cheaply educated, but possibly with a more sinister design underlying. At any rate, when the Revolution breaks out and Mercy-le-Roy, the pleasant little village where the children, now budding into manhood, and womanhood, reside, is a prey to disorder, and the young Maynards are in a position of grave danger, the uncle makes no effort to get them back to peaceful England. Eventually, however, he dies, and the pair return, but not before they have gone through a series of most romantic adventures, their li\ es being more than once in deadly peril. The stirring scenes of the Revolution—stirring even when transferred from Paris to the country —are depicted with a firm, hand, and the two young Maynards and their friends and acquaintances in the ranks of both the great opposing parties enlist the warmest sympathies of the readers. A pretty love story is skilfully interwoven through the stormy episodes of the tale, and one of the most exciting incidents of the book is that where a young French National Guard saves the life of his fair young English friend, Betty Maynard, by voluntarily denouncing himself as a, traitor to the Republic. The story ends with the retxirn to his rightful estate of young Maynard, who marries the daughter of a French count; but poor Betty cannot forget her dead hero, and contents herself with the life of a quiet old maid. The story is admirably adapted for youthful perusal, but older folks will also find it pleasant reading.

" Seething Days .- A Romanes of Tudor Times," by Caroline C. Holroyd. Macmillan's Colonial Library. (Wellington: S. and W. Mackay.) Miss Holroyd's story deals with the adventures of a young gentleman attached to the household of Mr Secretary Cecil, afterwards Lord Burleigh. The action of the tale mainly takes place in the reigns of King Edward the Sixth and Queen Mary, young Harry Sture, the hero, figuring in several manly exploits in defence of his lady love, Mistress Lettis, and a very charming heroine she is too. In the first half of the book the story flags a good deal, but with the accession of Queen Mary the interest deepens, and the leading characters are engaged in a tangled mass of love and intrigue out of which arise many romantic and exciting situations. The chief fault of the book is the attempt of the authoress to imitate the archaic language of the time. To do this without wearying the reader is always a difficult task, and that Miss Holroyd has not succeeded where so many have failed is speedilv made manifest. "Seething Days" is a harmless enough production, and if a first attempt is not without some promise of better work in the future. It is the sort of historical story which is primarily suitable for the library of a young ladies' school, but the adult reader who has enjoyed Conan Doyle's " White Company," or, better still, Mr Weyman's " Story of Francis Cludde," will vote it rather tame, not to say " wishy washy."

" Sibylla," by Sir Henry S. Cunningham; "The Ra.lstons," by F.Marion Crawford; "Far prom the Madding Crowd," by Thomas Hardy; "Two in the Bush," by Frankfort Moore ; " The Canadian Dominion," by G. R. Pai'kin. Macmillan's Colonial Library. (Wellington .- S. and W. Mackay.) We have also received the above-men-tioned new volumes of Messrs Macmillan's well-printed Colonial Library. Some are old friends in a new garb, others are newcomers. A brief notice of each is* all we can find room for to-day. " Sibylla," by Sir Henry Cunningham, is not a particularly brilliant novel. A gentleman of good family, an ardent and successful politician, weds with a charming woman. Mr and Mrs Mountcalm have youth, money, position—everything that

should make them happy 3 but happiness 1 —at least, not at first—does not come to them. The fact is that Mountcalm is so wrapped up in politics that he gives his j wife too little of his time, does not show her those little attentions which cost so little but Which wives treasure so much. He is, in fact, a pragmatical, cold-natured, ungenial individual, the soul of morality and honour, but almost repellant in his lack of everyday sympathy and tact. Upon this state of things enters a young gentle-man-about-town, of agreeable manners; a society trifier, maybe, but a pleasant companion, with that air of being empressee which ha&t such a great effect upon some women. Trouble, of course, ensues —misunderstandings, rumours, almost scandal-—but Sibylla is loyal and good, and all ends happily. The book has some interest, on account of its descriptions of the inner working of politicians; and there is a distinct "society air" about it which may please many. Personally, we found the story of a deadly dullness. Certainly, it is quite unworthy of its author, whose "Chronicles of Dustypore," published some years ago, gave such an amusing picture of Anglo-Indian life, and one of whose later novels, " The Heriots," was immeasureably superior to the one before us.

" The Ralstons," by Mr F. Marion Crawford, is one of the new series of stories of New York life with which the author of "Mr Isaacs" is now delighting the novel-reading public. It has already been reviewed in these columns (by our London correspondent). "Far from the Madding Crowd" is an old and delightful acquaintance. "We have always preferred Mr Thomas Hardy's earlier stories of his own pet " Wessex," to the much belauded " Tess of the D'TJrbevilles," and the powerful but slightly unpleasant "Life's Little Ironies." To meet again with Farmer Oak and Sergeant Troy, with the beauteous Bathsheba Everdene, and above all with Mr Hardy's ever delightfully humorous rustics, is a real joy to the hapless reviewer of latterday fiction, and taking up on a recent wet evening this earlier novel of Mr Hardy's with the intention of merely indulging in a temporary " dip," we soon found ourselves so thoroughly beguiled by its charm that we had perforce to read it once more from beginning to end —and this "the third time of asking." Such books are to be treasured. They while away weary hours,and unlike so much of our modern fiction leave no bitter taste in the mouth. We are glad to notice that Messrs Macmillans are including all Mr Hardy's earlier stories in their useful Colonial Library. No upcountry library should be without a complete set of this author. " Two in the Bush" is the title of a volume of short stories by Mr Frankfort Moore, whose " Grey Eye or So," and " I Forbid the Banns" have achieved considerable popularity with novel readers. The stories in the volume before us are only of average magazine merit, " Two in the Bush," which relateb how two young Englishmen were mistaken for bushrangers, being perhaps the weakest of the lot. The stories were hardly worth republication; they are certainly much beneath the usually high standard which Messrs Macmillan have hitherto set up in their Colonial Library. Mr George R. Parkin is well known as an enthusiastic advocate of Imperial Federation, as an apostle of which he visited these colonies on a lecturing tour some two or three years ago. In " The Great Dominion," he gives a series of very interesting studies of Canadian life and politics, which have previously appeared in print in the London Times. Mr Parkin writes well, and some of his descriptions of the Great North-West are particularly well done. Anyone who wishes to obtain information as to the great Canadian Dominion and as to the political and social problems to the front amongst the Canadians, cannot do better than order a copy of Mr Parkin's book, the utility of which is enhanced by some excellent maps. C.W.