A LITERARY CORNER

New Zealand Times, Volume XXX, Issue 6623, 12 September 1908, Page 5

A LITERARY CORNER

BOOKS. (By "Liber.*’) answers to coufm:hbondlnts. "Mao/' Napier ; G. L., VVol! ingUm. Next week. '■fcttiiftti-or."—Will, try uml limit up fte roit-T’tuici'H. f.ilU‘l 1.0 iic.tr oi'couti Ijook “on the .nlwks." >V.II.A.- J Will iloul with in “W iiU-rHaml iiiuuter«” column next week. DK LIBKI.S." True there tire book* mill book 1 ;. Tliere’e t-irny, , J.’nr im.ljnee, ami ilu.O’CH J.ceon; Tlioi-o’ri holiuiel low, mid Mec.stliihit, Ami Jilco t.tiltoii'ri “t.;won. Wilu ■'l.av.o of Uiu.t uml itioee oi Libel. AiKt XiOihtd mill Hie Mormon Bible. Ami some nro <l"ai- im frieinle. uml Borne Wi. hi <'P because we neeil Uiem ; An I some wo ward Iri/iu worm ami thumb, Ami hive too well to re;«l them. M/ own nro poor, uml mostly new, Uill I'vo an KUuvir or two. (That as n tjift is prized, the next Tor t roiiitle in Im 1 limliiiif: rhii Aidiiit' (or im early Tlmt I’iauliii (or its liimliiiK: I'll Is eon y llerricl-. hulc. a llower, ,Vho rceoi'd of one perlect lionr. Uul whet Iter il; he worth or looks W • 1,00,1 iy hive or slMiimly tjui‘l, wi'liiii dii.h resiilu ui books Wo -ean-e eu;i love I hem wioiijjly; To Sii"n tin eteniui ladiuoi, A Imuoy iltarmm,-J to Lim tool. No, nUosulkur too! is ho Wiio oiders. lieu Horn doubt, Tho e books which “no nood library hliould ever In without." Aiel h.audly looks Ine wvll-giaxcd (loot On tomes Imit issue never more. Lees may wo scorn his cimes grand, Where ,-,a(ely. Mtre.y naH-'C fair virgin neala w lyp... uuseauncl jUul iiiiioci.-jit ui iiaj;,*.'!', Tbt.'K: real., prttii'Mtu Hum dust accurst, Tito urn, talttmus'-aiid cue wutot. Ami least of all shoulil we that? write Wait t.usy jest derhie them. .... Who hope to leave, v. lien 'met to s:t., The Inst of us inside litem. Lear «iiriiie.i! V, here many a sen.Vri.ee - name Has lamed—Uncer llt-tu Ins tame. —Cosmo y[o:.kao:isv.

"/kusl.ralaedan Bonds: A treatise, practical and scientific, on the locauom dcoign, consu ncikm, and maintenance of roads ami pavcmcnis. ' By «u i\i. Goane, li. L. Coanc, and U M, i.ouuc, Jim., Livil Lnguicers, Melbourne. rncibournc: George Roberttioa and Co.

in a brief but interesting direfneo the joint auiiiors ol Uuo luo.-U important uofiiibuuua to tile .ui.-traliuu protluccu Uieraum> of tecunology, point out that hitherto Uiero luis .'Xisie-.l no comprunenbivo hundoouk dealing mm die ctmslruct;io i ol j uuils. pavemcnid, loutwayo, anti similar woiks from a uoiift oi vie*» wJiiuli talvcs nuucu of .vu-UniiUMan climates, im.UMiifls, lauouv. amt conaitiou' generally. I'tie autnors Have notUeinbeiveo tno ta.iii oi prohuiljig ft.

engineering manual wlnen eliunni ik-ai •wmciJciy, .naciicaliy, uuil "‘ui u special view tu im.aeru eomUtK>n.s and re--41 uiremcuts. u-itu ta« quwiUoii of i-on<l.’ cousu-uutiuu. A special poini. is nuiUo ot spccilicaliorw taken from ncuml practice, ami it is hoped that tliuir inclusion may supply « want foil by students and by young Australasian engineers undertaking tho design and supervision of rund works. Costs data, have, in ovary ease, been carefuily arranged from the most reliable information available, .and from the personal experience of tho authors. Want may be fulled “road economics” (tho construction and control of roads and other public works by mnuieipal UxlksU, have received special attention, and a largo number of tables and illustrations have been introduced with a view to bringing a full comprehension of tho text; within tho understanding of the layman. A summary ■of tho principal contents of -Messrs Comio’h valuable and essentially practical treatise will give our renders some idea of tho wide scope of the work. The authors treat successively with resistance to traction, road economics, locution of roads, earthworks, earth roads, gravelled roads, rollers and scarifiers, road metal, construction of metalled roads. nuiinleiiauco of metalled roads, tar macadam ami asphaltiuu roads, paved road*, the dust problem, footways, drainage, uiouutain and forest roads, and PiJeclfieaUoiifj and contracts. Thus it will bo seen the AU*wsr6 Conno survey nuul deal with M most every important problem which must come periodically under tho hen of and appeal for solution by municipal and county councils, road .und highway boards, and Ihcir engineers, ■and wo should say that no more intorcslin** and valuable book than the ono before ue could iind a place in tho otiico library of every local body having to cope with tins <iuo*tkm of road conttruction and nujintonance. As showing tho wealth of detail provided by tin* authors wo may heu> give a summary of the com touts of 0310 chapter alone, that headed Construction of Metalled Hoads”— WUero j ustified—Necessity for re-

location beloro permanent improvements. aro umlcrlak.eu—Telford and Macadam roads comimml—Modern

Telford —li-ock bottom roads—Modern Macadam its suited for Australasia— JtoosoiiM ivhy ol<l practice unsuited— Choice of methods—Foundations iu clay, sand, or rock—Crown required ill various situations—Form of profile—Cross section of country roads—

Alteration of existing levels of streets and roads—Widths of footpaths— Cross section of town and suburban ■streets —Arrangement of grades of Butters and channels—Typical cross sections for roads and street* of various widths and requirements— Cross flections on sidelong ground— Cross sections of city streets—Thickness of metal in theory and practice—Sizes of c,tones— -Necessity for screenin::—Measurement--Spread inn— Hulling—Advantages of steam rolling

Weight of roller—Necessity for binding—Binding of the road in theory and practice—Selection and quality of hinder—How and when applied—Complete specification am! schedule for metalled road contract—

Cost of Telford and rock bottom foundation—Cost of metal, carting, and spreading—Cost of steam rolling —Cost of horso rolling—Coat of binding—Cost of street construction itemised—Sea walls.

Tho diagrams ami illustrations, of which there are many, are well executed, some lu line, others in half tone, and there »ro frequent references to the reports of city and county engineers in the various colonics, and New Zealand examples—sumo for imitation, others for avoidance—are frequently quoted. It, is difficult to conceive of a work more essentially practical than this of Messrs Coano's, Tho most experienced city or country engineer cannot fail to find many useful hints in its pages, and yet the information given is couched in such simple language as to bring a full grasp 01 tho matters dealt with well within the comprehension of tho non-expert member cf a ci'y or countv council. I’d!h authors ami publishers are to bo congratulated upon the appearance of so

ciriincntly onefnl a work. Many thou- . ami.- of pounds are, wv Inn, annually wasted on i! h<■oll.s i. i 11, ee.i i .e: siy i'imHirnoted loaitv and other on'die works j u ll,in ihiniiiiioii and ill 'he varumo Stales of Au-1 rail.i. .Much of this waste could ue feel sure, tie avoided were 'll? j-es,non Able rilheers and members of hi'ml I, odies In render U'.-M.-mlv . more lull;; con ■versant Jill wiiat m odit. col, iinpro;ier!y i.o ea'led tile sei -nee ot ma'i niakuiH, to a mil k no-.vieilye ol wiimli Me-sid (“oam;'-; nio-t e.d.m ira bde handbook may Im n (fai-hd a,- an eminenUy ralisfaetorv and t rn-I worthy l-tnlde It is rate, I'lid-ed, tliat an ,b net nil tap techiioim.'icnl work of such merit as Him of .Me-si.s I'oaneV comes under our notion nreeiation antoimst I. lie special public lor whom thu authors have so ably oaturod.

Kilty Tiiilieur." Bv May Sinclair London; Const.!hie anti Co.

As for Mr Taiileur. he was, so iar as inn marrmpe reeisters. either ecclesiastical or civil, could testily, as visionary a pei'iilnien as Mrs I.'.amps laimious ereatinn, “Mrs 'Arris.' 1 Nm. eri as .Mrs Taiileur, duly aeccni pained by .Miss Kcatiiio, !L “trime eai,' tviUy Tailienr m ,-rends upon a Soul hniouiii (io nit itonruemnut ii) liotid in a iiv.ni oi iiih'.iiiled respeci alii lily, lint Kitty was a lany v,, tii a ••past." wi.ii indeed quit" I,allii dozen 11 tiasts,’’ and aitlioimli that indiT.nalile “soniel hind-" wliieh the retired courUv-an ran nover liide. jireen liersclt In Hie iilmosl, as she may, in the lllliltiae pari, of newiy-ae.,lined propriety, was never noticed he Iliad unite too impossibly puilelitss widower, I,'obert Lucy, I,lf le.siive Killy was promptly “spciUed" as “one of that sort" (the phrase is her own and Ihe aniline's, not unis) hy the little off-season camp of Imli-pay olacers, uiaiden ladles and “fViilipflieaT lemales

!._,)■ wind. I 111' Uuslish watering Vhu-C «l>pareuilv csists—in the "oil .-■aa-tja. _I ae “jiroiH'f" people suiff at Kitty and Killy del hies them. At laa t, ll:o haduity of Uic "u.ini Riiid" having become openly (lamon.-ti-ative, Kitty is lenri'ul and is discovered in a scale'of Brief lay good Air l.ncv, a widower of torty, willi a sister us innocent as himself of certain, ugly phases of modern Jill'- isympathy grows ,tu.i love, ami Robert, hist cinvrdrousiy championin',- ills Tailleur, just as -slupicl .! os. Sedlev championed Becky hliarp, pn,poses ami is accepted, the "tAmo rat. U 1 a frea/.v of mingled jealous,'/ aail propriely—:aid propndy having been t masked t.y an imeg.ualivc uuloUring oi h'T -iiaiioivr', past liv tile acamdi Usana " lie oi a '-os-ipm- cotonel—cnsmig the dust o; Wmaraouth off her feci and leaving poor AII IV Uiu-.tteuded. To do the reiic. '.'l tlie vir-ionary Mr Tailleur credit -h.' revolts. at tir»t, at the idea of marry--IU- i.ucv, but the idea u'l well constituted T- .. ".dhiitv am! peace is too aliuianp, ami aiti.-muii she hints at a "past,” and —vs V.cv the chance of withdrawing hi- 'offer, ‘die nevertheless accepts when that sentient an insists, he, by the way, t'unitine, dear good font, there is no thin it” but mere boardinghouse,scandai. Now. however, descends upon boulhni 'Uth Kitty's latest protector, an arrant cud, one Wilfrid Mars:on, who argues, as a "man of tUo .world, that tUo piojected marriage is impossible. Ho shakes KittvV. resolution a little, but wkat oause-s the tragical climax is the of Robert's two little puds. Confron.ed by siicli iimr/ccnce, and tortured b'- too fear that, wnnehow or other, Kobe t must some ilay learn the tinth, sue adopts an attitude of horoienl self-sacri-fice and tells the man whom she by this time honestly loves, what sort of position the has occupied in-or out ot-socicty, previous to corning to Kouthraouili. ihoio U a trying scene, but the inevitable happens.' Robert admits the impassibility cl‘ marriage, but otters to provide ior isitty's future-in a distinctly honourable fashion—so that at least she may be rid of Iho bounder Marsfon. Poor Kitty herself cuts the Gordian knot by suicide. -Miss .Sinclair, in her two previous novels, "Tin' Bivino a “ J "The Helpmate,” has shown , that she can rend and depicture the innermost, most poignant agonies of the human mind, and in her description ot poor Kitty's tardy conflict, between right and wrong, once’ again displays her mastery of the complicated workings of the feminine soul. The Lucys brother and sister, especially the latter, whose truly Christian charity is indeed a most loveable thing to "road of, are both well drawn, and Aliss Keating, the tame cat,” is capital. The weak point in the book is the supposition that a man like fmcv should not have seen lor lumselt what everyone else m the hotel could see namely that Kitty Tailleur was—well,That she was. '"Kitty Tailleur” is far from being such an excellent novel as "Tile Divine Fire.” It is too morbid in tone and the author makes a sad blunder in so unduly sentimentalising l.or heroine, whoso ways, actions and language, at the outset of the story, aro such to render almost absurdly _ impossible. such a sudden drop into sincerity and honesty as is recorded in later chapters. Nevertheless, the story is one which will bo read ami which, also, deserves to bo read.

The Forewarners,” a novel. By Giovanni Cena, with a preface by Mrs iiumphioy Ward. London; George Bell ami Sons. Wellington; Whitcombe and Tombs Ltd.

Such modern Italian novels as we have read, especially those ot D’Annunzio and Fogazzuro. have been either frankly and openly erotic, or, on the other hand, Ikvyo been tinged with a carious mysticism. Also, their leading characters have liioslly been of the so-called “upper” - classes, the existence of the city workers and the tillers of the soil being quite ignored. Here, however, in this curious fragment of which Giovanni Coua is the author, and to which Mrs Humphrey Ward has contributed a preface, wc are introduced to a class of Italians totally different from those we have mot in the pages of D’Annunzio and I’ognzzaro. The narrator of the story is supposed to have been a proofreader to a firm of printers specialising in the production of scientific works. His pay is a mere pittance, and his life, outside the dreary printing works, is passed in the dingy, sordid inexpressibly depressing surroundings provided by a tenement house, crowded with struggling toilers, in the busy city of Turin. Tluj proof-reader, whoso father and mother have deserted him whilst yet he was a mere child, is a confirmed pessimist, a n volulionist at heart, almost an avowed Anarchist. He is, indeed, so nearly akin tj certain heroes of modern Russian fiction that he might have stepped bodily out of the most depressing of, say. Maxim Gorky’s short stories. Ho has a friend, ayonng poet, even more helpless and miserable than himself. The poet dies a miserable death, and his friend, the autobmgrapher, is more than ever convinced that society is rotten to tho core, and that the lot of the poor and oppressed is hopeless. He dreams, it is true, of some vague redemption of society by his own self-sacrifice, dreams of a personal appeal to the King, but the autobiography closes suddenly, the narrator, so the preface hints, having cither committed suicide or lost his life in endeavouring to save others during an inundation of the river I’o. The story bears unmistakable interval evidence of being a genuine human document, and therein lies its undeniable fascination. Stnnga, the poor proofreader, (Tastino, the miserable foundling poet, Cimisin, the old cobbler, whoso misery never stops Ills whistling—these unci the women of the tenement, some nobio, virtuous and industrious, worthy of a happier life than that to which they are apparently enchained beyond hope of redemption the others, such as “the Salamander,” willingly vicious, human' derelicts whose fate they never

attempt to fight against —all have evidently been drawn from life. Amid all these’ snlVcring, erring human souls in the Borgo San Donato, there flits to and

fro one (footl nnm-l at least, a lady doctor, nsuyliter of a preat Turinese scieilUst. A “vision of .si.ulidht" is she truthfully i ailed bv file nnfortnnato Staiißa. "The idirewaraers’’ I- stylld “a novel" on il. title paye. Util this is a niisuornrr. Idle ee-perieiicev of poor Stanfra, the pi-001-renrh r, are much more than a mere novel. Tim; d.helosc the fact that •iims-rneau. tin- 'surface, in the preal llalien industrial centre?,— and Jlnly dors liol coriM-l Vv holly of Naplos iirm (.icnua :, H .i l.’oiito lu-iv/ Is a*: work tho miiip I,'j.p! liiu'T wit'll tho nitilops m- (■<■( 11;i Ii t if.~ of mudorn Zifo as t hoso which m.ifh' Cwman Socialism a facivOV Lj ho rockutiod with by tho Kaiser, ami uhif.'h, in I’ranof, ami .Belgium, and Spain, are hn?odiAg a ho?;!: of futuic jo voltit ionists. Tex tlioso good souls who imagine fiiat nimh/i'n Italv is destined t'. remain a mere tourist's paradise, a land ul sunny .'/kies, and a picturesque r>ca. : autry, :i country where flolcc tar iiicnto reigns snprmne.” this iiuman docun.»*nt unplen.-janl, even revolting ns in certain of its pas- ; , ;! cs it may be, will er mo as n rr.de aw iikcmnir. Ihe diuorruee between the real Jlnly and the Italy of the tourist and of musical comedy is :i very real thins indeed.

'Koso HrLnoil." Uy Alice Brown omlon ; (bnsiablo and Co.

“Lose McLeod" is a novel which pos-«(,s.-es mniiv excellently written passages, iuit Wlioec - main charaeter.s arc far too shadowy to be accepted by the reader as real personages. The heroine, Handsome, talented as she is. interests but dor* not fascinate, and tho truth as to her actual experience in 1-aris, previo.is to her descent upon the peaceful Aow Knplaud villaso to which she oomes, ostemsiblv, as the wife of a scape-praco foil, i, -0 thickly veiled that one can ueiiher condemn nor svmriatliise undeserved y with her conduct. Her father, too, Markham MeiX'oil, the “Chief” of a “lirctherhood” as to whose principles the reader is to the very end of tho story, in a Mate of “fogginc z s is a niO.st uncoil.' incirg characier. As fpvnt im epoist, as Sir Wi!Ivaghby ikittcruc UiTUfjc'f, he is a curious compound of ’.veil moaning dreamer, and «uscrupulous, charlnton am* his eonvcr.don, bus conquest, of (ho cold-iihiodocl. cminoYitiy in-nctical iJloetrn Knlton. is almost inconceivable, i’wo brothers, i’eter and Osrnwid Grant, one an artist who has tem.porayily do‘•crlcd his art to follow the “Brotheriiood'.s" orders the other a deformed, but most loveable u \^ho. c e sedf aacnbco no or.o save the heroine cither understands or appreciates, arc both well drawn but Brown s chief success is to bo found in a delightfully festive and frisky old dame. Madam Fulton, and her equally tddorly but ever devoted admirer, Lilly Stark. Iho former is tho widow of a Harvard professor. Afler having written a succession of trivial novels, she suddenly astonishes tho literary world of America by a l>ook of reminiscences in which sno recounts her impressions of and her conversations with a host of more or less notable figures in literary circles. The book brings both fame and pelf to the author, and yet, alas, it is merely an audacious, a most impudent “fake." The scene wherein tho elderly literary sinner confesses her misdemeanour to her old beau (a London publisher) is one of tnemost amusing wo have come across in recent fiction, and as for_ elderly bean himself, he is so delightfully humorous a creation that wc can forgivo his acquiescence in. tho lady's naughtiness. Billy Stark, indeed, as an original character, is worth half the other characters in the story put together As a foil to the skittish Madame Fulton, her granddaughter Flcctra, with her cold Puritanism, her exaggerated respect ior propriety, of the always rather exaggerated New England type, the lack of all I that is charitable and lovable in her character, and finally, her sudden and ns we have said, unconceivable collapse at tlio feet of the charlatanic “Chief/’ serves a useful purpose in tho story, but it is difficult to imagine her as a real personage. The author has evidently devoted much pain to the elaboration of Osmond Grant's curiously complex character, but he, too, must be classed as an impossible, in real life. There is much clover writing in this long and, in its way, very interesting story, hut the general and final impression left upon the mind of tho reader is that the author .might have done much better with the excellent material at her hand. “Rose .McLeod" is a novel far above tho average and it is precisely because the author's literary ability, as exemplified therein, is so unmistakably superior to that of tho ordinary run of novelists, that one regrets so keenly eho has not succeeded in a greater degree, in making us accept her characters ns lifelike men and women.

“The God of Clay/' By H. a Bailey. London: Hutchinson and Co., Wellington ; Wliitcombo and Tombs, Ltd. The "God of Clay” is a Napoleonic novel. the xieriod that of the French Revolution, the period during which "the little Corsican lieutenant of artillery” rose to bo General and First Consul of Franco. Mr Bailey is a born story teller and the action of his vividly narrated and very fascinating story is delightfully brisk. Historical personages crowd his pages. We have Marat and Robespierre, Barms and Josephine, Tallicn, Murat, Fouchc and Talleyrand, and of each Mr ihuloy gives a telling portrait. Quickly too docs tho scene change from Valence to Paris, from Paris to Toulon, from Toulon to Paris again. Then to Italy to Austria, further yet afield to Bgypt, to Acre and Alexandria, and back yet again to Paris. Very skilfully does the novelist blond fiction with history, and history with fiction, but. ever is Bonaparte, the "God of Clay,” tho central, all dominant, picturesque figure, Mr Bailey, however, is more than merely unfair to his chief character. That Bonaparte was selfish, heartless, unscrupulous, mendacious, and downright cruel, can be admitted, but that he was ever capable of tho revoltinglv inhuman rilianics hero ascribed to him, it is difficult, for us at least, to believe, Mr Bailey’s picture of the First Consul is, in words, very much akin to those amusing but atrociously unjust caricatures of the "Corsican tyrant and usurper,” which Gillray Rowlandson and Cmikshanks produced in such huge numbers for the edification of tho British public—-or such section of that public as was willing to believe anything and everything to Napoleon’s discredit. Apart from this injustice to one, who with’all his faults, was a great man, a groat commander, and a groat ruler of men, we hare nothing but praise for Mr Bailey’s fine romance. It is a book which once commenced, it will bo found difficult to lay aside until the Inst page is reached, for tho dash and vigour of tho narrative are most alluring. Really a capita] novel this, disfigured alone by the one fault to which wo have deemed it a duty to refer above.

“From tho Old Bog; Being tho letters of an ex-Primo Minister to his nephew. 1 ' By Frank Fox, Melbourne: Thomas C. Lothian. It matters very little whether these letters of an cx-Australian premier to his nephew were or were not originally suggested by the “Letters of a self-made Merchant to His Son.” Tho fact remains that Mr Fox is to be congratulated upon, having written n book whoso almost every chapter is most plentifully bestrewn with chunks of real good "horseBense.” One "special virtue of tho book is its evident sincerity. There is no funking an awkward question, no diplomatic, avoidance of tho disagreeable or “inconvenient.” Mr Fox dares and dares boldly, and on the whole wisely. Whether he be discussing “Our Australian type.” the “Fiscal Issue,” tho "Defence Problem.” “Titles,” “Foreign Polities” and “A White Australia,” whether he be advising his nephew as to the duties of a “Whip” or discoursing on “The Disadvantages of Being too Serious,” or again, merely delivering his sou! on such a seemingly trivial question as “Feed Fads," ho is always alert in spirit, blithe

nnd breezy in style, tolerant—wonderfully' toleraut on the whole his evi-;

fh*nt prej nrlices—towards with v. !io:n ho disagrees, and always most frankly and honestly outspoken, and (hat without any exaggerated dogynatism. His point of view is reminisce ni, it may be, of many

theories and principles as set forth in tho “Bulletin/' in which journal certain, of tho articles now collected have previously appeared. But Mr fV»: is not so uniforrnly captious arid p<-s----f-imistic as is the i)riliiantly written but often wiiiully wrong-hendr-d Sydney journal which, for good or for evil, exorcises po widespread an influence on tho poiitic<al world of Australia, ami wore his nephew, whom, by the way, he ceases to counsel when, once that much advised young man finallv ministerial honours, to model his political career in accordance with the principles laid down so caustically and :-.o wittily by hi* avuncular mentor, he would, wo tliink, bo a stalosman of whom Australia might well bo proud. Mo have derived much genuine amusement and incidentally, wo believe, gained much useful information from Air Fox’s breezily written chapters and can recommend the book to our readers as being an oxtremeIr readable production. The price is Cd.

The Edge of Beyond." By Cfortrndr Page, London: George 801 l and Sons. ‘Wellington: Whiicombo and Tombs, Limited.

Miss Pago’s second story of life in Rhodesia 13 nor. perhaps so generally plcaft-mg a novel as was her "Love m tho Wilderness/’ but it po6s.es.scs several strongly drawn characters, and ao a.’picture oi life on a South African Farm, hf-3 very different from that described iu OUvo ouco famous, but now almost lorgou.cn ouoiv_, nas many and distinct monts of its own. A <s.taod, wixiusc yet <a niero girl, to a selnsn, iuoidiuatoiy conceited miooaiui. who foully fails to UiKiersunnd Ins wife’s nc-r----voui'. tejupernment, Joyce Grant hubs j.crseif a.-ijareauy doomed to a dra»>, dingy existence ui Rnoacoia, arul wncu temptation assails tne Uitra sejisiiiye, .Alma?!, nuuroiio woman—a "femme incomprirtc" if over theio wore one—Aiie falls an ca.sy victim, and the end, after at peiiod ox ouiy surface tidpuiUv-ss. is ini.jcry and death, in strong contrast to this, weak, erring but ioveauic and nuicn to be pitied woman, is Dinah Vv cocoriy, neaUiiy in nuuU cud oouy, yet ever iicijgiiliu.ij feminine, duo m a very cnaimtug cication; indeed, it is sue wuo •» iut* real neioino oi mo story, due me a an? lc£6 coiivincmg, out tney will tne lady reader, xne local coiOur Vi wa story is biugnc and picturosquo, and iuiogether the novel is ono or the must interesting Toutii African storios wo have reau for boino time.

"The Vineyard./’ By “John Oliver Hobbes.' London: George Bell and Sons. Wellington: Whitcomb© aißi Tombs, Limited. Airs Craigio (“John Oliver Hobbes") is dead and gone, but many’of her novels, if not destined to permanent x-'opuiuruy, will bear re-roading more tnan ouce. and there ill bo many, we doubt not, who will join with us in welcoming a cheap and lasted ally produced rcpimi oi ‘ The Vineyard. ' it is noc jars best novel, but there is some very clever writing in it, ond pernaps Its very lack of those smart—it at timed jte-T a trilio too carefully wrought—epigrams, for which some of her earlier boons were so noteworthy, may be considered by a certain class of readers more a merit than a fault, if epigrams arc few, tho characterisation, in certain msuauccs, is admiraoie. n.s a study oi a mental and moral "wobbler," Mrs Graifpcd pom-vut of Gerald Federan, tne counciy solicitor, who lose© tho love oi pretty Jennie Sussex, nnd weds tho ucailny but neurotic —indeed, half cracked— Lachc-i Trcoegar, is a hue iwaj m the ironic eiyie. Lis two old maiden aunts are drawn juth almost pamiul precision, but tho noiomo wo lihoa noi a. ail on a first reading, and have even scantier sympathy with, on this, a second acquaiutance. Luc where so much k exccdleut it were a pity to recall even ono small failure. “The Vineyard" is more than a good novel; it is good literature, and in this, its cheaper edidon, ii, (mourn, guui luauj new itumirero. iu is cnat iu> author's facile and umlaut pen will never be clipped in ink again.

"The Magic of May." By "Iota;” London: George Bell and Sons. Wellington: Whitcombe and Tombs, Ltd. I: is a far cry nowadays back to the "good old times,” when "Iota” was one of the champions of the "woman who would," and when first the sex-problem novel fluttered the literary dovo-colcs of the old-fsshjonod kind, "lota” is still as eloquent, as witty, as good a story-teller, as she was some fifteen years ago, but curiously enough, although her heroine Eleanor is just such n morbid, egotistical, wayward sort of creature as tno "revellers' used to delight to picture in the "problem" novels of which wo have spoken, sho "gives in" at the end, and actually has tho honesty to admit sho has been very foolish in expecting her husband to bo faultless. Sho has a hopelessly silly mother, out of whoso various conversions to "health" and religious fads "lota" gets somo capital fun, and her own father was a well-meaning fool, and her stepfather an unmitigated bounder. Left much to herself sho becomes frightfully precocious and, as girlhood comes on, morbid. A healthy-minded lad who had loved her in his youth, unfortunately goes out to India and returns just too late, for sho is engaged to bo married to a retired officer, older than herself. This gentleman unfortunately had, when in India, developed a strain of cowardice. Painfully aware of this fault, a fault for which ho was no more personally to blame than was the hero of Mr Mason's “Four Feathers," he takes a drug, under the influence of which ho performs prodigies of valour and wins a V.O. but Bonnie, Eleanor’s boy lover, had, when in India, aeon poor Forster under tho influence of this drug, and, horrified at the idea of his childhood's friend marrying ono whom ho deemed a degenerate, interviews Eoreter, and protests against tho marriage. Forster then unfolds his life history, and convinced that tho old trouble has disappeared for ever, Honnio agrees to say and do nothing. Tho marriage takes place, and soon, by an (unfortunate accident, Eleanor learns of the Indian episode. Thereupon her natural morbidity breaks out. A child is born, a poor, frail creature, and as her mother thinks, doomed to inherit tho father’s unhappy for a while there is dire misery in the Forster household. Fortunately, in tho end, Bonnie’s counsels and friendship win the woman back to a healthier frame of mind, and tho story closes with the full reconciliation of husband and wife. The plot, such as it is. may seom trivial, but the strength of the story lies in its strong characterisation and its, at times, almost brilliant dialogue. “Iota” always wrote well. In her last novel sho has written Iretter than ever. We would, however, that she had condensed the over lengthy records of Eleanor’s precocious sayings and doings. They verge on tho dangerous border of sheer tedium. But there are two. at least, most amusing and charming old parsons), and although Bonnie la somewhat of a lay figure, Forster is really an admirably drawn character.

"The Moth and the Flame.” By Alice Maud Meadows. London: John Milne. Melbourne: Goorgo Eobertson and Os. The "TI«»o” ia a fascinating, flirtatious, even rather "feet” widow Cora Westwood who has a. handsome income, but who lives beyond it. There is but one "Moth” on the title page, but there are three in tho story, one a handsome,

na??ionatß Italian, Joso Navarro, tlio ivcoml a wtialiiiy widov.-tr, ttto-'uoniLum-Irv —rhc«e two rivals lor tho fair Coiar. jiaijd—and tb<> third a young doctor—a luTvo soeciail'd. >vJiO is ougagicl io LumicvT <iau' T ii.tcr out who, ncvorLhclous, is*more than once in grtuo peril of failin': a- vicitm to \ * c-st w 00.,! s charms. 1 u nl'-- a niMiai”-*'wiaowor, falb-> i.but "over C.. 1" 111 love wiui Cora. IJia daugiucr strongly oOjl-.Us. .md so, too, for wry dincrt.'iit ica.-ons, docs the handTOiiio ilaiinii, whoso reunions with -lie ‘•dame’' had at one lime mi-en such to cause the vur> idea of JjUinle} s jiuccissiui courtship to drive him into nuaiaess. The wiuow mames Lumiey, but the honeymoon is scarcely over ere sue is lound muidered. Suspicion lulls on Margaret Lumiey, who was known to dcuvil her luthor'6 second wife, and .she is only baved from u horrible face by tho dramatic conlhesiou, in court, oi mo Jt.iU.n, whom the s ugut of his rival ts happinesa had driven into a jury of mmuwoua insaniiy. the doctor

pluys an important part in the story, an doe:-) aho a nurse, who fails in love wj.ii tne handsome Italian. There is a rather over-generous supply of “passional, o klSA'jF’ ecaiteiC'd inougli tho pages of “Tne Moth and the biamc/’ but, despite an occasional ci ud.-ncss in style, it is bv jjo iJiCahci a bad s.-unpiO of tho ecn-saii-oiml novel, and Uiokc v. ho take pica.-su.-u in Uiis paiticuiar elajs of fiction aio iioc likely lo be captious critics. Tlio.- read omy to be aimr-cd. and "Tho Moth and tne liame," with all its fan.to, is readable from the first to tno luot of its throe hundred and odd pages.