WITH PAPER-KNIFE AND PEN.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1249, 6 February 1896, Page 17

WITH PAPER-KNIFE AND PEN.

Mac>iillan*s Colonial Library. (London : Macmillan and Co. Wellington : fc*. and W. Mack ay.) Messrs Macmillan and Co. were the initiators of the now popular Colonial Libraries issued by so many London publishers, and their collection now includes no less than 250 volumes. The excellent print and generally tasteful get-up of these volumes, together with the fact that as a rule the stories are the production of authors of recognised reputation, have contributed to make Macmillan's Colonial Library a well deserved success, but of late wo regret to notice an increasing tendency to include stories of a somewhat second-rate character. This is a pity, as many book-buyers have got into the habit of taking the hall-mark of Macmillan as a safe guide to fiction of the best kind, and a reputation thus earned should not be carelessly imperilled by the issue of works of an inferior literary calibre. The latest batch to hand of volumes from this library includes " Prisoners of Silence," by Mary Angela Dickens ; " The Youth of Parnassus and Other Stories," by T. Pearsall Smith ; "My Honey," by the author of "Tip Cat"; "Mistress Dorothy Marvin," by J. C. Snaith ; " Minor Dialogues," by W. Pett Ridge ; " The Education of Antonia," by F. E. Philips; "The Horseman's Word," by Neil Roy; "The Salt of the Earth," by P. Lafargue, and " Wild Rose," by Frances Francis.

Of these, Miss Dickens' " Prisoners of Silence " is far and away the best written and strongest work. The plot, tragic in the extreme, is ingeniously conceived, and the story marches along to a powerful if somewhat repulsive denouement. The hand of Destiny is visible throughout all the sad history of Dr North Branston, the illegitimate son of Mrs Vallotson: liranston's father, Sir William Karslake, who has married a young wife, comes to the quiet city of Alnchester, where Branston, who believes himself to be and is recognised as being the half-brother of his mother, is living as assistant to J)r Vallotson. The young doctor's fate it in to attend his father during the illness of the latter. The wretched Mrs Vallotson does all she can to prevent son and father meeting, but Sir William at length dincovers his son's identity. In the meantm.* local gossip unjustly scandalises ov<o- the friendship of young Lady Karslake and Branston. Eventually the baronet dies, and Branston, leaving Alnchester for London, meets her and proposes and is accepted. The agony of his wretched mother, Mrs Vallotson, on seeing her illegitimate son on the point of marrying his own father's widow is now most powerfully depicted. After appealing in vain to Branston j&b to marry Lady Karslake,, the poor M-

low still of course being in ignorance of his relations to the dead man, and to the supposed half-sister, Mrs Vallotson, the latter appears at the church and stops the wedding. There is a terrible scene when the wretched woman exposes the secret to Branston, and after the death of the mother Branston bids farewell to Lady Karsslake and sails for India, there to spend the remnants of a cruelly shattered life. The story, as may be seen by the above, is pervaded by an awful gloom, but in few recent novels have we met finer portraits than those of Branston and his mother. The latter is an exceptionally powerful creation and stamps Miss Dickens as a novelist of a very high order of talent.

In " The Youth of Parnassus, and Other Stories," Mr Pearsall Smith gives us some slight, but remarkably well written sketches of life at Oxford. The peculiar charm of that ancient seat of learning and its somewhat somnolent and enervating effects upon certain minds is very cleverly pourtray ed, but the sketches hardly merited publication in their present form, and the book as a whole will not appeal to the averago colonial reader of fiction.

"My Honey," by the author of " Tip Cat," is another volume upon the inclusion of which in the present series the publishers can hardly be congratulated. The story, which is simple in plot and healthy in tone, is that of a good-hearted, but highspirited and impetuous girl, who is left under the care of a kind but formal old country rector. There is a pretty little love story in the book, and the pictures of life in the quiet vicarage are very gracefully done, but the interest of the story as a whole is very slight.

" Mistress Dorothy Marvin," by Mr J. C. j Snaith, on the other hand, is a really capital historical romance, readable from first page to last, and one which we can strongly recommend. The sub-title of Mr Snaith's story runs as follows: "Excerpts from the Memories of Sir Edward Armstrong 1 , Baronet." The time is that of James the Second, and Mr Snaith gives us some very stirring scenes during the Monmouth rebellion and the events which followed. Sir Edward Armstrong is the son of a valiant old gentleman who is killed by Kirke's "Lambs," and the son, who takes to the " road," and becomes notorious as "Black Ned," a justly-dreaded highwayman, remains an outlaw until such time as William of Orange arrives in England. One of the best chapters in the book deals with a trial of some accused rebels before a court presided over by the infamous Judge Jeffreys. The highwayman baronet goes through a number of most exciting adventures before he quits the "road" and marries his fair cousin, Mistress Dorothy Marvin, a witty, faithful, courageous and lovable heroine, who secures the reader's g-nodwijl vA iwce and retains it until the end of the story Va reached. AV"e have not met Mr Snaith's name on ?., title page before. If " Dorothy Marvin "be his first sally forth into the field of fiction, he is to be very heartily congratulated upon his ! effort, successors to which from the same pen we shall await with pleasurable anticii pation of a further treat.

In "Minor Dialogues," by W. Pett Ridge, are collected a number of contributions to the St. James' Gazette, which are much in the style of Mr Ansley's well-known " Voces Populi." Mr Pett Ridge possesses a very happy knack of presenting Cockney scenes in a satirically humoroxis style which is decidedly attractive. Several of his sketches have been reprinted from time to time in these columns, and we can recommend the present collection to our readers as being one of the most genuinely humorous books published for some time past.

The chief fault of " The Education of Antonia," by F. E. Philips, is that it is too long. Otherwise it is a story which shows much talent for character-drawing and for command of witty dialogue. Antonia Smith is a young lady artist whose father is in Australia, and whom she can hardly remember ever having seen. Antonia goes on a visit to a girl friend in North Wales, and there discovers that her real name is Antonia Vaughan, and that her father is a consummate scoundrel who had mined the father of those with whom she is staying a 3 a friend and honoured guest. Her friend's brother, John, falls in love with her, but when she becomes aware of her father's career and the Tenterden connection therewith, she returns to London, rejecting all allowance from her father, and goes through some very painful experiences whilst in search of employment. The story - ends happily, but, as we have said, the interest is unduiy weakened by the prolixity of the narrative. John Tenterden, a strong-passioned man, is a fine character, and a younger brother, Owen, a dabbler in Socialism and, in his way, a mechanical genius, are decidedly novel and attractive creations. The author has evidently read a gt-eat deal. She is thoroughly up to date in literature and sociology, and possesses a considerable amount of dry humour, which she employs to great advantage. This is a story well worth reading, but had it been told at less length it would have been more likely to achieve the popularity it deserves to obtain.

Wo are getting somewhat weary of Scots stories, the frequent lapses into dialect being not a little troublesome to those not having had the advantage of having been born in " Caledonia stern and wild." Howover, Mr Neil Roy's " Horseman's Word," although a trifle stagey in some of its incidents, is a very readable story, the interest of which centres round a "natural," a half-witted creature known locally as "The Kelpy" and named John Morton. Mcrton, through his mother, Mad Rose Morton, claims the Earldom of CalzieL. a rival claimant being Mtrothed

to " The Kelpy's " cousin, Lilian Graham. ] A lawsuit impends, but eventually Morton meets his death while acting as a " whisperer " or horse-trainer to a famous equine champion, Lodestar, which is favourite for the Grand National Steeplechase, and the story ends satisfactorily to all save poor "Kelpy." The title of the story is deiived from the fact that Morton possessed peculiar powers which were supposed to enable him to subdue the most vicious and unmanageable horses. The story is, as we have said, readable enough, but it is hardly up to the high standard previously set up by the publishers for books in the series.

"Wild Rose," by Francos Francis, is a , story of life in New Mexico, and is full of , all the approved appurtenances to frontier ', existence in the way of revolver shooting, ' gambling, lynching, &c, whilst a general flavour of strong language of an esoteric character and stronger liquor, of no decent character at all, floats round the pages. Wild Rose, the heroine, i? a "piano girl" in a gambling saloon at Dogtown, but is of good birth and education. In her girlhood a handsome scoundrel named Hauuaford induces her to elope with him and contract what proves to be a bogus marriage. Later on, when she has discovered the truth, she leaves the fellow, and an old miner leaving her his fortune, she goes to England, hunts, frequents aristocratic society, gambles at Monte Carlo, and generally goes the pace until her money is exhausted. Then follows her return to the States aid an engagement as " piano girl." The transition is abrupt, but Rose Carlin is nothing if not given to impetuous actions. In DogtoAvn she meets and fall in love with Ned Chase, a handsome young miner and stage coach proprietor. Hannaford, her old betrayer, turns up, and manages to swindle Ned and his partner out of a mine. Whereupon there is much revolver shooting, the end of which is that Ned kills the sheriff of the county —a sheriff of the wellknown western, Bret Hartian stamp, and finds himself in gaol. Then comes his escape by the aid of Wild Rose, and the pair go through numberless adventures, I including the "sticking up" of a train. Eventually tho pair are captured, and the city of Dogtown is not yet certain whether to treat them as heroes. The scoundrelly Hannaford, who has sought to win back Rose's favour and swears vengeance against Chase, bribes a iot of rascally scum from a neighbouring "city" to rush the Wilbur gaol and lynch Ned forthwith. At the last moment, of course, as the experienced reader of this class of novel was perfectly safe in prophesying, Ned's old mates and the population of Dogtown generally turn up, and tho proposed lynching comes to nought. The story ends with the death of Ned Chase and the murder of poor Rose by the scoundrel Hannaford, the latter, contrary to the rules which usually govern Wild West stories, being left to Divine justice to be punished for his crimes.

" The Salt of the Earth," by P. Lafargue, V&

possessing, no doubt, niucV- merit in the way of literary stylo, but almost wholly dev'OvA JL that vitality and interest which the reader of fiction generally and not unreasonably demands. The various stories, " studies in character" would perhaps be a more correct name for them, give evidence of much knowledge of character on the part of the author, but they are pervaded too much by the self-consciousness of the " superior person " to be pleasant reading.

We are glad to learn that- ors Macmillan and Co. are about txT issue in this Colonial Library of theirs the works of Mr Rudyard Kipling, of which they hold the copyright. Hitherto Mr Kipling's collected works, such as " Plain Tales from the Hills," " Life's Handicap," " Many Inventions," " Soldiers Three," &c, have been obtainable only in 6s editions. Their inclusion in the cheap and handy Colonial Library will bo a great boon to many xeaders who hitherto have been debarred by the cost from possessing Copies of Kipling. The publishers also announce that they will include several volumes of a new English translation of Balzac's novels. SOME MAGAZINES. The Windsor. Magazine. (Melbourne : Ward, Lock and Bowden, Ltd.) With the December and special Xmas number combined, the Windsor concludes the first year of its existence. It has achieved a wonderfully large circulation and must now be a valuable property. The number before us is full of exceptionally novel and interesting features. A special frontispiece is given in the shape of a reproduction of a water-colour drawing of considerable artistic merit by no les" personage than Her Majesty the Queen, executed by her in June, 1831, when she was Princess Victoria. There is also presented as a supplement a new edition of a complete novel, "A Study in Scarlet," by Dr Conan Doyle. It was in this story, which has been out of print for some time past, that Dr Doyle first introduced his now famous character, Sherlock Holmes. The story is well-illustrated and is in itself well worth the shilling charged for the whole number. . The magazine proper contains stories by Miss Ethel Turner, author of " Seven Young Australians," Mrs F. A. Steel, Messrs Guy Boothby, F. W. Robinson, Alfred T. Storey, Cairo Ismail, H. D. Lowry and others, as well as a number of illustrated articles on general subjects, including a most interesting account of the Hon. Walter Rothschild's celebrated puzzle museum, and the interview with Dr Morrison, whose recently published work, "An Australian in China," has been so widely quoted.

The Windsor programme for the current v(j«w !• specially rich in quantity and quality. Mr Guy Boothby will contribute a serial story, " Dr Nikola," and Mr Hall Caine a new novel, Mr Morrison -will give

a new series of adventures of Martin Hewitt, of detective fame, and short stories have been arranged for from the pens of Rudyard Kipling, Rider Haggard, S. R. Crockett, Barry Pain, W. Clark Russell, Bertram Mitford, Anthony Hope, lan Maclaren, Stanley J. Weyman and other wellknown writers, Mr Richard Le Gallienne will contribute a set of Cycling Songs, and other verso wjtfl be given by Norman Gale and Louisa M. Chandler Moulton. A special feature will be a series of beautifully-illus-trated articles by Mr Gambler Bolton, entitled, "The Human Element in Wild Beasts," and some racy monthly gossip i from the pens of Mr Frankfort Moore and I other wiiters. Altogether, the Windsor . promises to well sustain and increase its j already high reputation as a first-class i illustrated family magazine. C.W. RECEIVED. | "In Haunts of Wild Game," by F. I Vaughan Kirby (Edinburgh : Wm. BlackI wood and Sons). "Corruption," by Percy White (London : William Heinnemann). " His Father's Son," by Branders Matthew (Longmans' Colonial Library. London : Longmans and Co.). "The Ecclesiastical Expansion of England," by Alfred Berry, D.D. (London : Macmillan and Co.; Wellington : S. and W. Maclcay. " Casa j Braccio," by F. Marion Crawford; " The I Expedition of Captain Flick," by Fergus Hume,- "For Love of Prue," by L. Keith. (Macmillan's Colonial Library. London : Macmillan and Co.; Wellington : S. and W. Mackay).