NEW BOOKS AND NEW EDITIONS

New Zealand Times, Volume LXXI, Issue 4295, 2 March 1901, Page 1 (Supplement)

NEW BOOKS AND NEW EDITIONS

“The Brass Bottle,” by IT. Anstey. London, Longmans, Green and Co. Wellington : Messrs "Whittaker Bros. Out of “The Strand Magazine/’ whore it attracted a great deal of interest and attention, into Longman’s Colonial Library is the evolution ol 'The Brass Bottle.’’ Itis a delightful holiday story, showing iCS author to have a quaint imagination and to be possessed of a ricn fund of humouri Evidently obtaining inspiration from, a perusal of “Tho Arabian Nights,” Mr Anstcy ventured the difficult task of adapting an Arabian jinnee to local conditions. His manner of doing so displays eixceiiout workmanship. To go into details and disclose the plot would he to rob the book of its chief charm, which is originality; a proceeding which would be unfair to -i-ix - Anstoy and to his prospective readers alive. It may, however, be predicted that the verdict of novel lovers will, be that hero is a story, well-written, spicy, laughterprovoking—well worth the reading. "The Duke/' by Storcr Clouslou. London; Longmans, Grcau and Co. Weilington : Messrs Whittaker Bros. Mr CTouston, whose ‘Tho Lunatic at Large,” met with a favourable reception, is a. good example of tho modern school of fictional writers. His now story covers merely a mouth in. the life of a character of singular interest—Lambert Hcscite who from a wanderer leaps into possession of vast wealth and an ancient title ; but that month is crammed full of incident- and romance. Strong, cleaiay defined characters are set before the reader. Thar* are practically two herin tho book, the young duke cud bis friend Kavanagh, a penniless adventurer, whom tho heir persuades to personals him for a month ’in order that be (the liclir) may ha free to clear up the mystery surrounding a dead father’s. disgrace. After the Duke and his friend —an admirably limned portrait of a volatile, reckless Irishman—have changed their identities, complications of ad kinds not unnaturally ensuet. The chapters teem with incident, and the doings of aristocratic English society, as reflected in Mr Clouston’s lively pagos, are chronicled in a manner by no means hal - tering to that exclusive set. The threads of a, tangled skein are in capable hands, and Mr Clouston liberates them, one. by one, with rare skill and evident relisu. His invention never rails, and his detail is always piquant. Tho result is a oerdi that should be widely popular.

■■‘Rodman the Boatsteerer,” and other stories, by Louis Becke. London ; George Newnes, Limited, by arrangement with Ms* T. Fisher Lnwin. (Sixpenny edition).

To read this series of South Sea yarns is not unlike inspecting the work in a painter’s studio. There are in tho stories variations of style, and, it may almost be said, degrees of finish. Some of the stories resemble an impressionist sketch, having tho same broad effects and the same lack of elaboration. Others, again, possess ail the completeness of a picture on which the greatest care has been bestowed. But even in bis roundest work Mr Becke does not labour. His writing has the charm of spontaneity, and also the directness which goes so far towards the making of a good story. In islands where Nature, when she arouses herself in the fury of the hurricane, is quick to destroy ; where tho inhabitants are swift to shed blood, and where in a general way might is right, there is little opportunity for concealment. A man or a woman —trader, missionary, sailing master, or native chief—is soon known in his true colours. Prolonged dissimulation such as is possible under the cover of civilisation in temperate climes is a thing scarcely known. Mr Becke’s themes are. the adventures, the loves, and the brave and base deeds of New Bedford whalers, Sydney. traders, labour recruiters, historical pirates, convicts, escapees, deserters, and beach-combers on the one side and native men and women on tho other. The unions, some permanent but many temporary, of the white man and the coloured woman form the basis of a large proportion of his vivid narratives-

“God’s Lad,” a novel by Paul Cushing. London; George Boil and Sons’ Indian and Colonial Library.

Love, without which a novel .were imcomplete, lias a corner, but little more than that, in ‘'God’s Lad.” The early chapters arc much in the nature of - prologue. They merely serve to intro duce some 'English folk, gentle and simple, two of whom, a man and a maid, figure prominently in the story proper, when the scene is changed to the Western Hemisphere. The author uses his story as the vehicle for conveying striking descriptions of life aboard an American ship in the year 1849, in San Francisco, when the ouest of gold drew men from all parts of the world to California, and on the goldfields themselves. Over the crow of the ship Samantha the rule of fist and revolver prevailed, and the exciting happenings aboard her are described without reserve, while the same free pen is used iu detailing her ’cute captain’s schemes and brutalities. The strange condition of San Francisco, with its immense fleet of deserted vessels in the Bay and the money-making and gambling that went on ashore, in days when gold-dust and nuggets were currency and high wages were the rule. is picturesquely Incidents of mining camps are also detailed in an attractive manner. The story has no great amount of cohesion.

but persons v. ho like piquant language, and can bear the unadulterated linguistic peculiarities of sailors and miners, will find it readable.

“The Circling Hearths.” By Boderic Quinn. Published by the Bulletin Newspaper Company.

This booklet, which is the third of the '•Bulletin” series, is a daintily got-up volume of thirty-two pages, whose contents are in thorough keeping with its appearance. Air Quinn belongs to the younger school of Australian poets, and his work, as testified by a former booklet, now out of print, is marked by a wealth of fancy and a grace of diction which gives promise of even better performance when the maturity of his mental powers shall have been reacne.l. In the pcenx that gives the title to this volume Mr Quinn apostrophises his countrymen of tho six "circling hearths’’ that make the Australian Commonwealth ;

Six Ploughmen in the same held sick by side, But, if need be, six Swords as one;

and in a line stanza thus limns their destiny—

To keep these hearth-ires red, to keep the door Of each house wide, that is our part; Sural}' 't.is noble 1 Surely heart io heart, God’s love upon us and one goal before, Is something worth; something to win Our hearts to effort ; something it were good To garner scon; and something ’twould ba sin ■ To cast aside in wanton mood.

The most conspicuous vica of the author is a. straining after original forms of versification. Ho will do better work when ho remembers or learns that the true craftsman is he who. <yn best grant new thoughts and new music on the old simple forms. Of tlu> other poems in this collection, we like best, because of the evidence of thought it contains, that entitled “Loto and Intuition,” dealing with the problem of sexantagonism and the all-cehquering power of sex-passion. It tells of a lover, his reason discrowned by the “perilous sweetness” of <i woman’s attraction.

But ho paused vet a little; ho heard from, afar The Voice of the Past—- “ Her blood and thy blood, they arc daggered for war; She was horn from the first not to mane thee, but mar.” And his soul stood aghast.

“On net thou touch her and kiss her who wrought thee; this wrong Who dimmed thy race-star? Her soul and thy soul are a-surge and n-tlirong With foe-forccj that warred through the •centuries long, And for ever shall war.” Of course, in the upshot Love is triumphant; the lover is enslaved by the seductive charms of the enchantrefcs; And locked in her beautiful prison of arms. He laughed at the Past, the instinctive alarms That bade him beware. The exuberance! of fancy raid imagination, which so strongly recommends Mr Quinn’s verses to people of the poetic temperament, will militate against h ; s popularity with the Australasian public until he becomes more external and material. This booklet proves that he has the true poetic stuff in him, and it will whet the appetite of lovers of literature for more of like ouality. *