A LITERARY CORNER

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXI, Issue 6861, 3 July 1909, Page 4

A LITERARY CORNER

BOOKS.

(By "Libee.")

TWO "NATURE BOOKS"

"Tho Biography of a Silver-Fox. By Ernest Thompson Sotou. London: Archibald Constable and Co. Mr Soton's latest work is a fitting successor to his "Biography of a Orazly," and otlier studies of animal lite in tho American forests ami lakes. IMS lit'o history of .Domino Keynard, of tioldur Town, is a most fascinating U'btle voiuaio, ait ideal gift book tor a well-educated boy or girl, although here and there youuuul readers way-luid. its psychology a trille puzzling. Mr beton has uci-uually and intimately .studied the inauv curious trains iu the foxes ?taßrai..«itk and farther West. Jli-i i/iupoi-e iu tiie present volume, so i W y the preface, is "to. snow the man-wirtu now tne fox-world lives—and, uljovo all. to ' advertise and emphasise U.e beauuuU monogamy of the betteroliuss fox." -I'm psyc-holoifieally important incidents in tn-is story are, atKis Mr tk-Lon, ••from life, although tne stoi y is constructive and tiro fray-ments froin many different regions. It is am) beautiful story, this courtship and mating and family life of JJumluo and Snow-yruff. and in all .his many, books »r Soton has never given his rwideis r series of mere de'igitttu transor.t.ts from -Nature. Theodore h'cosevelt in his prido as a .mighty iMmrcd who slays tor smying's sake, has been pleased to belittle tho efforts of Mr Seton and his friendly rival in thil) special literature, lir 0. D Itoberts, but albeit Dhat imagination is pushed, at tunes, to an extreme in tho depleting ot the working of the animal mind, or instinct, or reason, or what psychologists in.uy. call Jit, the result is .assuredly in this instance ot least a very charming story.. A specially beautiful cuapter is that m which id recorded the great "Event in the life-history* of Domino and lus mate, and tho male, true to tho instinct of all wild animals, weeks out and bruigs home the food for the five little foxes, which men might call "ugly,' but *° the mother fox, were ••the most "ondeiful, precious tilings that over were known." Then came a day when an. "ancient foe" of Domino's, the hound 11 ekla, owned by a ••long-legged, f reck efaced, straw-thatched I'ankee boy, who was- a born woodman and hunter, threatened . Suowruff's precious laniily with calamity.

Just to show Mr Seton's style, I copy out the following extract :

Domino ra returning home on.© day*, with food. Five little black noses, ten little "beady eyes set in woolly heads, were bundled in the den-door, and pointed at him, or at the food he brought, when there sounded near the penetrating bay ot a Hound, and Doinino, startled, Aeaped on a stump to hear, lhero was no mistaking that uncanny note, the voice of his ancient enemy. Un. mo account must that enemy come nearer the home-place, and, downing the fear in hi* breast, the dark Fox loped to meet the Hound, while the mother warned the younger ones. It was like many another chase, but larder, for Hekla now had reached his strength, and away they sped. For a moment the Hound halted -at Snowruff's trail, but Domino showed himself -and barked defiance that lured the big Hound .on. Both were prime, and the run was bard for an hour. Then Domuw had enough, and sought to shake the Hound oil as. before, but found it not so easy. Hekla had been learning, and now was a gifted trailer. The first and second ruses tailed. Then Domino remembered the narrow ledge, along the, cliff where the Shawbnn leaves fho hills, and thither led his implacable foe. Chance or ' plan, who can eay? .The chase drew nar the cliff. The SUver Fox, in his gkfcsy black, was bounding on the Shore, and it seemed hie speed was failing. Hekla was elbsina, was straining, lungins and . breathing hard, and still was olos-mg. xhey reached the broad pathway; it seemed a trap. Then Domino went Blower; the dark Hound saw the victim .in. sigfrt; four bounds ware oil between, and -the pathway narrowed. The Hound cot closer suit—so close now that he Jiaaw ho had won. Another bound, the lagging lox was almost in. his reach, and again; up that span-wide ledge the- hunted lig-htly sped, and Hekla, broadbreasted, ovar-broad, crashing blinulv on, was smashed back by the rugged dliff, was hurleu, battered, and bleeding, and down-down Into the icy flood below, while the black .Fox watched him plunge. The Strawban is .fierce in that even in summer. In spaing it £ a coiling, churning sluiceway. A Hound in ail has strength might well have been appalled by such a •munite, and Hekla, desperately hurt, /was fighting for his life. Two miles down was he swept by that fierce. Hood, and it sang a marry song as it rollSl and tossed about hini. lor two hard miles it dragged him over jagged jocks and under waterWhirlfc, then gave, a scornful swish that left Jnim sxranded on its bank, a cxippled, humiliated wretch. !Not that night did he reach home. JNot that spring ox summer did he again go trailing. Five little black noses, ten little beady eyes ■in innocent woolly heads, .still came to .the. dendoor, daily, unafraid, for father was stdl all-powerful, and the den in the aspen-dale was a den in a dale of peace.

A 3 in. all Mr Teton's books the illustrations are us important as Uie -letterproas, iiven more so not a few readers may considex, for Mr Seton'a sketches—taken i'roiu *iif e models studied at close range, for he lives amongst the -woods—are sometimes exquisitely beautiful. The full page plates are oharmins examples of clever draughtsmanship, and, as -usual, many of the pages are adorned with pen and ink .thumbnail sketches of boasts, insects, and birds of nil kinds. The initial letters to each chapter, and some of the head awl tail pieces, are printed in .delicate tints, and the whole book is a marvel of well-directed taste in its set-up. (Price os).

"A Now Zealand Naturalist's Calendar, and Notes by the Wayside.' By ■U«oxge M. T'narason, M.P., Jt -L-o-, ' P.C b Dunedan: 14. J. .Stark and Co.'

The subject matter of this interesting and, in its way, valuable little bonk ot Mr Thomson's, first appeared in' the columns of the "Otafio Daily Times, readers of which journal were not slow to appreciate the many excellent aualifies wnich characterised these unpretentious, most agreeably written, and, in many instances, most fascinating studies of Nature's .moods, such as they are presented to the careful and keen-eyed observer during the course of our New Zealand Tear. Air .Thomfeon. might fairly be called the Bev. J. G. wood of New Zealand. His sympathies with every possible phase of natural history are evident in. ovary, chapter of his delight Jul little volume.' He is a born observer, and possesses what is equally important toanyonewlio writes on natural history, namely, the power to express himself clearly so thatthose not so well instructed as himself in Nature's marvels have no difficulty in. following him through bis Tnany rambles, and understanding the lessons he seeks to convey. Whether he be roaming along the ocean benches or

plodding over the sandhills round the city, in which he is a rightly honoured resident, or whether ho be noting the wealth of insect and other life to bo studied in the New Zealand bush or oven in tho city or suburban, garden, 'ho is always interesting and suggestive. The. book is admirably planned, the various months, from early spnns to tho close Of winter, each being made the subject of a separata chapter. How rich can be tho harvest of the well-trained oyo a proved by Mr Thomson very pleasantly. Ho never sacrifices simplicity and truth iu any attempt, at socalled "fine writing'—his stylo is alwuvs admirably uuect and clear, and there o/ro touches here and there of a quiet humour which is all the more effective in that it is never forced. An admirable book is this for young people, and there w.U be many a nuadleaged student and lover of Mature who will thank its author far a very charmiug volume. Tho illustrations are many and well chosen. They deal mainly with ptault and lluwc-r life, a few pictures representing the author s entomolo"ical studies would have boon welcome, in Wis preface Mr Thomson, modestly asserts that "this little book -will bo justified if it leads any to look on tho common things of Mature with renewed interest oouf to find pleasure iu forgotten fields." 1 feel sure, that all lovers of nature-study will unfeignedly rejoice iu the possession of the book which, by tho way, should certainly be placed 1 in tho hands of all our secondary school students, and might, with j advaiitage, bo utilised as a "reader by the higher standard pupils in our primary .schools. The printing and general get-up of the book, the price, of which, 3s Gd, is very moderate), reflect great credit aipon the publishers.

"A POET'S "PRECIOUS" PROSE "Poetry Militant. An Plea for the Poetry of Purpose. By Bernard O'-Dowd. Melbourne: 1. C. .Lothian. The substance of Mr O'Dowd's book was delivered, so* 1 learn by a modest little footnot.e on the very fast page, as -the Presidential Address ot tne literature Society of Melbourne, laus. ALr O'Dowd takes himself and bju. ieilaw Australian poeto very piously He is dissatisfied, it appears, wLtli.con temporary poetry which, so he contends, "is saying nothing in a multitude ot beautiful words, phrases, and toims . . . the poets are making ot poetry a beau . ■biful morass of ferny forms, mossy forms, and fun£'o«d forms, access bie, by the way, only to the very lew; tneie is nothing soJid in it to sustain any but the incorporeal wayfarer. H O'Dowd's conception ot what the true Poet ought to be was before the members of "Literature Society ot Melbourne," in the following terms:— The poet is the true Permeator, the projector of ceU-fornung ideals into the protoplasmic future, hois ■a ferment who alters for tho better tho ordered, natural; inert sequences of things. He is a living catalyst in the intellectual laboratory, and does . in a moment what, in the regular order, would take an age to do. He is the necessary hurrier ot the evolution protest. Science and Ethics reveal the Brute Will of the world in operation. Poetry is .the Idea that deflects the Will and rides it to new and better operation. And at no -time in tho history ot the world was the need for the Permeator poet, the projector of ideals, the Poet Militant, greater . tbim if. the present reconstruction ot all things beneath the wand of Evolution theories, and in no place greater than in this virgin, and unhandlicappea land of social experiments, embryonic democracy, and the Coming Race. Australia!

Elsewhere Mr O'Dowd refers to "Shakespeare, Milton, Dryden, and, Pope," as having been "mainly suckled on Latin-Grammar School ideals' rrhis' is sad news, indeed, for an old-foshton-, ed student of English literature like "Liber" who, .poor deluded wretch, Had actually hugged the delusion to his soul that those were poets worthy of beraigi read. But no, otf these, and.such mere, udetio "baok numbers" such as Words-, worth, Coleridge, 'and Matthew Arnold, I must not dream. Bather must 1, should I seek solace in poetry, turn to the works «jf the Australian senool and rejoice in wtat Mr O'Dowd calls "the architectonlic symbolism of Chris, Breaman"; "the rhythmic crammarye of Roderick Quinn,"; "the lyric splen-, dour and organ-roll of Sydney _ Jephcotf'; the "elemental virility on Ran-i dolph Bedford"; the "lucidly flowering dreaminess of Louise Mack" ; the rebellious dinging lightning of .Mane. llitt"; the "magpie warblings in the, pines by the sea," of Fred Williamson; the "sighing ,as of dying over acres of old-world tuberoses, of Harold Pudmey—and so on, .and so on, for close on two- pages of "precious" appreciation—and drivel? Mr O'Dowd, m hiß. anxiety to prove his case against .the "have beens, gets quite indignant,. and speaks of "the truculent, narcotising' and despotic post." Of course, after, this no Australian, of the "Literature. Society of Melbourne," at least will ever again open his Keats or his Sbetley, or. his Wordsworth and Byron. As for lenny-j son and Browning, and such mvnor 'lights in what, pace Mr O'Dowd, should; properly be regarded as a firmament of 'Jightless stars, how could any, self-re-, ■speeding Australian turn to these when) lie has the "architeotonio symbolism" of; Chris. Brennan, etc., etc, at his command. Dtawn with all the old poetic gods—give ,me Jim Binks of Bungaroo, •ox Will Wallaby of Wooloomooloo! Mr| O'Dowd takes himself very seriously, but to me the "Poet jidlitant" is a most humorous production.

IN MANY LANDS. "Side-Tracks and Bridle Paths." By Lionel James (The Intelligence Offi-, car). . Any book which bears on its title page the name of the author of "On the Heels of Do Wet," a series of articles which during the later stages of the South African War always made our old, friend, Blackwood's Magazine, so eagerly t sought after, is sure of a hearty wei-i come from a wide public. In his latest) book Mr James has collected some twenty or more sketches of travel and racial studies in various parts of the world. The most interesting of the sketches are those dealing with Persia and the rCbeliioai against the much bediamonxied potentate, whose throne at Teheran has latterly been threatened with a debacle similar to that which resulted in the expulsion of Abdul "the Damned" from his snug seclusion at Stamboul to an exile in Asia Minor. Mr James has much to say of Tabriz and the rebels, and some of his Persian character sketches are vastly amusing. Hassan All Khan, his Persian courier, private secretary, interpreter, valet, and cook, might have stepped right Out of a Kipling page. Prom Persia Mr James passes to India, and as a bit of powerfully dramatic writing his short story, "The Honour of Baud Khan," is fully equal to the Kipling standard. "The Discouragement of Surendra Nath Mukeraji" is a delightfully humorous story of the sad discomfiture of a Babu barrister, who went up to the Border Land provinces to practise his profession and found Pathan manners and customs very little to his liking.' Anon, Mr James turns the handle of his literary kinemetograph and we are in Bussia—in St. Petersburg, on that ill-fated day when the Tsar's subjects, proceeding in orderly fashion to present a petition to the "Little White Father"—the ruler soon to be feasted and honoured in libertyloving England—were ruthlessly shot down or sabred by the Another turn of tho handle and we have a series of moving pictures from. South Africa. Descriptions of a. Yisjt to the

German Army manoeuvres and of some English scenes savour of mere padding, but these can be judiciously skipped. For its Persian section alone tho book is well worth buying.

SOME RECENT FICTION "The Modelling of the Clay." My M. Urquhart. London. George Bell and Sons. Wellington: Whiteombe and Tombs. Ltd. Miss Urquhart's first novel, "Our Lady or the Mists," was a weird and morbid production. "The Modelling of the Clay" shows a distinct advance, but the motif is repellant, and there are certain passages where the author seems to have doim her be-st to rival Mr Jain'os Blytho and other writers, whose specialty is objectionable realism. On the .title page are quoted two Lines from John Davulson's "The Outcast" :

With scorn, with love, Affront tho world. It is with deliberate scorn for the world's opinions, and with deepest love, albeit a love largely tinged with illdisguised sensualism, that Kosamond '.uailory, the daughter of a middle-aged, ilirtatous widow, deliberately goes to live with Lance Kelling, an author, who tours about the «ountry in a caravan, and who is already married to a woman he cannot divorce because of his own offences against the code of conventional morality. Kelling, a man of splendid physique, has a strong strain of the brute in his character, and when tho inevitable satiety arrives, poor Rosamond bids fair to pay a terribly high price for her rashness. But an accident happens, and Killing's long illness is succeeded by a new and more wholesome frame of mind, and the story closes with some hope of permanent happiness for the pair of lovers. The author strives hard to defend Ilosamond s defiberate defiance of society's laws, and very unfairly tries to gain the reader s sympathy for her by introducing as a foil to the red-blooded heroine ""on icy virgin"—as she is called by one of the characters, Dorothea KingswCith, 1-tosa-miond's cousin. The heroine's relatives also country squires, clergymen, and others—are all drawn with the most evident attempt to satirise and belittle those who are opposed to the heroine s line of conduct. The fact, however, remains that the story is a glorification of unbridled passion. Kelling is a down,ri"ht cad, and is not far from being a mere human beast. The one occasion on which he wins my respect and a grudged liking is when he unmercifully thrasnes an even more objectionable personage, a decadent poet named beunias Butler. Thero is some very clever writing in the book, but Miss Urquhart wantonly appeals against good taste and, indeed, against common decency, when, she devotes a whole chapter to describing the physiological result upon his mustress of a sudden fright, 'ft* *>£ of thing one can look for and find in Zola, but in an English novel it is ■unexpected and most offensive. The w-hole story leaves a decidedly leo upon the reader's palate.' "Tne Modelling $ the Clay" is certainly not a noyei for the Young Person, and without being unduly squeamish, but few oldsters voLl 1 tlancy, be found to agree with, the author's ideas as to how far an advanced woman" is justified in affronting the world."

f'Kingsmead." By tho Baroness Von Hutten. London: Hutchinson and Co. Wellington: Whiteombe and Tombs, Ltd.

Those who, like myself, remember with pleasure—and gratitude to the author—those delightful novels, "Pam and i." The Halo,"' will turn with eagerness, ito the pages' of '-Kingsmead. the •hero is our old friend Tommy IBrircit's sister), of "The Halo." - He is now .Lord Kingsmead, a delicate, fantasticminded young man of twenty-three, who sells his ancestral home, crippled by ■mortgages and other burdens, to the Lansings. Papa Lansing has, I may say, invade a fortune out of ' Analyte, a wonderful enamel tor bath tubs. Ihe old gentleman, uneducated, vulgar, but W-hearted, is the father of Teddy Lansing, who has been Tommy's chum at Oxford, and the quondam owner of ■Kingsmead returns. from. Italy to spend a month or two in the -home of his .youth. The Lansings, especially the, ■daughter, are anxious to set into so-, ,ciety, and Tommy, good-naturedly, as-, ■aistei them. Teddy falls in love with Nancy Gilpin, the widow so it M understood, of an English officer kdled in lan Indian border fight, and. his suit, 'is enthusiastically aided by Kingsmead. !But Mrs Gilpin turns out to be a fraud la dady with an unsavoury past, and •troubles fall fast and heavily upon the Ichnms. Tommy, when ho learns the. truth, insists upon the engagement being broken off, but meanwhile has die.covered that he himself has fallen a vie-.J tim to Nancy's fragile charms. The lady strenuously fights for a chance to secure,, peace and "respectability," but evento-., ally gives up voung Lansing. Later on, She visits Kingsmead in Italy, and the. 'voung man comes perilously near to makfog a fool of himself. But he does not, and from the point of view of the average Wei reader the conclusion is bald and .unsatisfactory. "Kingsmead, however 'is a very charming story, full of. smart .dialogue, and with a certain fascinating .(luaintnees wbich is characteristic, ot, ■all- its author's writings. The Lansings, are admirable. - Kingsmead. is delight-, 'fully unreal, and Mrs Gilpin, with herl strange incapacity to distinguish twixt right Sand wrong, is a character of whom, any author might well be proud. Our okf friends, Brigit, of "The Halo/- and Pam, the'latter now a middle-aged wife, each puts in a rather shadowy appearance, but Pammy Pam's adopted| daughter, a stout .and charmingly un-, conventional girl, just on the verge, of- • Wing out/ is a new character with whom we shall be only, too glad to repew acquaintance. fnll many ways, a very delightful story, full S fun, cleverly drawn characters, and bright dialogue.

.The Story of Thyrza." By Alice BTown. Archibald Constable and Co. Here is a really excellent novel by an American writeTwith whom I now make tcquaiiitanee for, the first tune. » f rtomeiwhat painful story, m *hAt it records the life-long tragedy of. a girl cruelly betrayed by a man who, in Ufa youth, had been her playmate, Zd who marries her alter. Xfce girl heroically faces the situation, and lives to Se her son attain to a position of hnn?ur The sister is kept in ignorance treachery and throught Z-h„ i™-hired woman displays a no- * factor which cainot fail to b - ht ?h» reStdnTiration. Even when her secret, whe*eoldjore, hood's herself, knowledge, the world refusing to marry .iLuu. man who shoaild deem him to oe ui renullc ia, tion of .napping * ~_ she loves, hB pushing prinma7 £» Ctaixotio. extreme.- but all ?? „;,ih/vvl of the two sisters, the ,ham There is a suggestion of iommi Hardy's heroines in the rtStions between the two sisters. Tliyrza't stern refusal to reveal the name of ner betrayer, and the other sister's suspicion that hex husband's refusal to meet the heroine in. later life has some connection with the mystery, are conveyed in passages which are equal in suppressed dramatic power to anything I know in latter-day fiction. ."ThoStory of Thyrza" is decidedly a novel to bei read. Although its. dominant motif hi

pathetic, there is an abundance" of kindly humour in the story. The only exception I can take to Miss Brown's fine novel is the introduction of the mentally afflicted Aunt Ellie. This sort of thing should have died with Dickens. 'But the patient and yet, withal, lighthearted and ever-cheerful Thyrza is a ■heroine of whom any novelist might •well be proud.

"Priscilla and Charybdis." By Frankfort Moore. London: Archibald Constable and Co. When but a mere girl Priscilla Wadhurst, the daughter of a wealthy farmer, is entrapped into a marriage with a scamp who is arrested as 4 the bridal party leaves the church. She returns to her native town of I'ramsby and is there, lor a time, alternately pitied and snubbed by uie local snouocracy. But Priscilla has good stuff in her and triumphs by marrying a line young fellow, one Jack Wingheld, the local squire, who has come into his , inheritance and alter having seen the world as it exisits outside Traiusby, is attracted by a young lady who is palpably the superior both in beauty and intelligence of the daughter of the local •■select." lor a time rriscilta is haomness personified, but the scampish husband, who was supposed to have been drowned, suddenly turns up and piays what is to him the most congenial role of a blackmailer. The envious little world of Prainsby rejoices over the supposed downfall of scoinng that stuck-up thing"-towit poor Priscilla, but Win-fieid is not only a loving busband, but a shrewd and determined defender of his wife. The blackmailer is fought and discomfited, and comes to a tragic end, Priscilla's first marriage is proved .to have been no marriage at all, and scotting I'ranibsy executes a volte face and. prepares to toady and grovel where it once sniffed and scorned. It is no very pleasant picture that Mr Moore draws of tho Frambsy snobocracy, but Priscilla is a delightful heroine. The character of her Puritanical old father is strongly drawn 'and although not equal to some of Mr Moore's earlier stories, the novel is essentially readable and interesting.

f'Dromina." By John Ayscough. London : Hodder and Stoughton. WelUington: Whiteombe and Tombs, Ltd.

When Mr Ays&tough's "Marotz was| published last year it was at onoo hailed as a novel far above the average of •every day Action. Its background was Italy, and Mr Ayscough was applauded for having challenged the late ■Mr •Marion Crawford on the latter's own special field and beaten him hollow. Next came that curious novel of military life,' "Mr Beke of the Blacks, reviewed in these columns a few months ago, and now Mr Ayscough, as if parading his versatility, at once compels. attention and secures the reader's admiration by his third and most original story, "Dromina." Herein are displayed qualities which must ever stand to a novelist's credit. Almost boundless powers of imagination are here, together with a wit, a dramatio force, and a vigour which combine to capture the reader's attention and hold it enthralled for a good four hundred pages or more. The principal scenes are laid in the West of Ireland, a country of which the author evidently possesses an. intimate knowledge. But the scene changes rapidly, to Italy, to Spain, to Hayti, and even to California—the California of the old Spanish occupation. "Dromina' has been called a "book of Kings," and cer-, tainly royalty—royalty of the romantic kind—plays no small part therein.' Amongst other matters the novel deals ■with the young Dauphin, of France, and of his bringing up by an aristocratic j band of gypsies. Stevenson's "Prince Otto" ' was not a more "fantastic, romance than •'Dromina'," but is vastly inferior to Mr Ayscough's fine and—this is its chief merit— essentially original story. It is-a long story, and from' its very wealth of characters and incidents is not to bo read hastily. It is, as Mr Kipling would say, the authors 'three decker," and a very noble and handsome ship "it is. , Mr, Ayeoough dedicates his 'romance to the' greatest living man of ilotters, George Meredith." Meredith, iilas, is dead, but had ho lived he would, I believe, have been the first to acknowledge the brilliant gifts of him who paid , him the compliment just mentioned.

"The Half Moon," a romance of the Old World and the New. By Ford Madox Huefler. London: George. Bell and Sons. Wellington: Whitcombe and Tombs, Ltd. Those who have lead. Mr Huefler's "Fifth Queen Crowned" know full well that we have in this author a skilled compounder of the novel historical. His latest story deals with the adventures of one Edward Coleman, a freeman of the ancient Channel' sea port of Eye, who goes with old Hendrik Hudson to America, and there meets with many, strange adventures. There are two hero-, •ines m the story, one, Anne Jeai, the! daughter of the \Mayor of Bye, and a| dabbler in witch spells and neoromantic| .nostrums, on which subject Mr Huet'.for, whlo recently wrote "A Book of Witches," is by way of being an authority, and the other sweet Magdalene' Keep, whose father is the pastor of the old Dutch Huguenot colony in the quaint old Sussex town. The supernatural plays no small jpart' in the story, for the curses and spells of the wicked Anne ■pursue the -unfortunate Coleman to faraway seaa, whither the Eye born manner accompanies the dauntless old Dutch navigator and explorer in his search for- the North-West Passage. A noveh imuob. out of the common is the story of the good ship "Half Moon," albeit, at times, the author seems a trifle over-! .anxious to emulate the "Fat- Boy in; ."Pickwick," and make our 'fleshcreep. iThere is a vivid directness, a virility about Mr Hueffer's scenes which is most fascinating. What a fine story he ought to be able to write with London for a background and with Elizabethan courtiers and citizens, for characters. It is a treat to get the novel historical free from . staginess, and this is precisely what Mr Huefler gives us. : A capital yarn in every way.

"Nancy and Her Small Holding." By E. Boyd Bayly. London: Jarrold and Sons. ■ • "Back to the Land" is a phrase very familiar to readers of English newspapers, and Miss Bayly's simple and pleasantly written little story deals .principally with the experiences of a courageous woman who has a small holding. The scene is laid in the South of ■England, near Salisbury Plain, and the author's rustic characters have evidently keen drawn from real life. A strongly .religious tone pervades the story, the (heroine of which is a. truly good and lovable woman. A vary good shillings. iworth is Miss Bayly's little book, from •which New Zealanders may learn, something of social conditions very diflerent from those which prevail in. the country districts of the Dominion. "The King and Isabel." By the author of "John Johns." Londont T. Werner Laurie. From the fact that Mr Frederic Carrel, the author of "The lung and Isabel," proclaims his latest novel as being by the author of, "The Adventures ot John Johns," it would seem that ha is inclined to b& proud of that unblushing English variant of the grimy and sordid theme first exploited by Ke Maupassant in the notorious "Bel Ami." Mr Cartel's second novel, ; "The City," exlubited a marked improvement in taste and style, but "The Methods of Mr Ames," published a few months ago, again left a nasty taste in the mouth. "The King and Isabel" is Mr Carrel's latest production. It is a. more- ambftkm« star? than its- predecessor*,, deal?..

ing, as it does, with the love' of a Continental royal personage for an English dame of high degree. There is an air of unreality about the whole story, and the interest is but' poorly maintained. There is far too much talk and too little action; indeed, speaking for myself, it was with unfeigned relief that I reached its last chapter with its somewhat problem-like conclusion. The petty intrigues and financial embarrassments of the royal personage, the Duke of Varlemon, were surely not worth chronicling at such length. It may be I am doing the author an injustice, but "The King and Isabel" is, to me, one of the dullest, most unsatisfactory stories, I have come aoross for some time.

- WRITERS AND READERS. (By "Libeb.'O Mainly for the reason that there are only twenty-four hours in a day and isaven days in a week, to say nothing of the fact that there are other features besides "A Literary Corner" to be found space for in the Saturday's issue of the "Times," I am obliged to hold •over several reviews until next week. iFor'the same reason I would ask two correspondents, "W.L.J." and "C.8.8.,i •to excuse my replying to-day to the r

In, addition to the novels reviewed this week under "Some Recent Fiction, the following can be specially commended as worthy of a place on "order lists from country reader's : "Set in .Silver" (the Williamsons' new motor story). . to "The Love Story of St. Bel." By Bernard Oopes. "Sir Guy and ' Lady Eannard.' By H. N. Dickinson. (This is by the ,author of that clever story of Oxford life, "Keddy"). „,.',, „ -Rv / "The llomance of a Plaan Man. By Ellen Glasgow (the Virginian writer). "Priscilla of the Good Intent. By HallJwell Sutcliffe. "Treasure Trove." By Mrs Dawson 'SoOtt. . , „ t, * TT "Mr Opp of Kentucky." . By A. H. Eioe, author^ of "Mrs Wiggs -of the Cab.bag© Patch..' ■ _y. , "Barbary Sheep." By Robert Hichens (the background is Biskra, familiar to readers of "The Garden of Allah ). "The Quest." By Justus Miles Forinan. "The White Sister." Marion Crawiord s posthuniorous novel. ' - .. !3ome of the above are notyeit available in "Colonial Library" form, but will be on sale in Wellington within the Inext few weeks. Meanwhile, when ,found make a Bote of 1

"Liber"' personally and most cordially approves the following brief . Booklover's Sentiment"-frqm the Canadian Bookseller and Stationer:— Borrowed books can never have the same influence on the people as books purchased and owned by the individual.

Every collector of Stevenson s works and works' about Stevenson, knows, or ought to know, Mr J. A. Hamerton s book, "Stevensoniana," one of the most ■interesting collection of literary gossip ever published. Mr Hamerton, so it appears, has for some years past busied himself with the collecting of ephemera! literature dealing with George Meredith and his books, and the result is a volume entitled "George Meredith in Anecdote and Criticism," which was to ■be published by Grant Eichards early last month. Mr Hamerton commenced his labours as a compiler of what I may call "Meredithiana;" some seven years ago, and the book was to have been .published as a souvenir of the author s 'eightieth birthday. An' important feature will be the illustrations.

Apropos to.. the author of "Eichard .Feverel," a correspondent jof the "Atheinaeum" (May 15th) quotes a ■ letter which, the veteran novelist recently sent to a young author:—"My practice 'with regard to reviews is to look for none and fo- read all that may como in my way. ,It is like expecting a windy.day in our 'climate when we go out of doors and, face .the' air : an author, must always) master sensitiveness when he publishes.. .He inows what" he, intended, and should 'be able to estimate the degree of his, attainments. Criticism will then brace: .him. We have not much of it, and, ithere will be indifference to wear ..through, and sometimes brutality to en- - counter. Tell yourself that such is our climate. I began sensitively "but soon jgot braced. Here _ and _ there a hostile [review is instructive, if only that it .throws us back on the consciousness of; our latent strength." AVhat;a difference is here, in this attitude of dignity, and eelf-restraint, to the. shrieking of a Hall X'aine or the whines of a Marie Corelli, iwhen confronted with a review in which itheir effusions are not greeted. , with greasy adulation I

The most recent wave of the flood ofj JNapoieonana is "The Exile of ; bt. Helena—the Last Phase in Fact and) Fiction," by M. Philippe Gonnard,, whose avowed purposeis "to make havooi ;of the imaginary and exaggerated Stories that have gone to swell the Napoleonic legend." Mr Heinemann is the (publisher. M. Gonnard's book is profusely illustrated, and the price is 10s.

Mr Heinemann also announces a..book: ,by the famous,- or perhaps I ought to say infamous John D. Kockefeller, of Standard Oil notoriety. The title is "Random Reminiscences of Men and, Events," and the "author's profits are,, so it is announced, to be devoted to os-i sisting Sunday school work. How touching! ' ... ■ . Mr' G. K. Chesterton has -written, so; I read, a. monograph on George Bernard, Shaw. The publisher • .is John Lane. A thorough-going castigation of G.B.S. who, as a poseur, ranks facile princeps amongst the literary celebrities of the, day, would be welcomed by thousands,, but it is probable. that Mr Chesterton will be as brilliantly paradoxical and| delightfully inconclusive as is the exponent of the Shavian philosophy himself.

Mr Eden Philpotts is a novelist'who has a big public of his own. .A friend of mine, for whose literary taste 1 have the greatest respect, tells me that he makes a point of buying everything that Mr Philpotts writes; indeed, he is so zealous •in his enthusiasm that he has .recently! bought all the back numbers of an early volume of "The Idler"—in its Jeromian dajls—containing certain stories of schoolday life by his favourite author. Personally, I thought ''The Vrrisin Widow" a powerfully written Btory, but the morbidity of the motif was to me singularly repellant. Mr Philpotts is a proline writer, two new novels from his pen being announced in Mr John Murray's list of "new pTiWiaatoons/ Oneis called "The Harem," and tlwrotheT "The Fun of the Fair." The latter is only a short story, but the former is, I understand, a "three-deoker, with a well-known Devonshire fishing port for its background. ,Mr Philpotts bids. fair to rival Blackmore in his affection for the "dotted cream" county Bat ■■ I would not give one "Lorn? Dsone for a whole shelf full of Philpottsian fiction. Such, alas, is elderly prejudice!

London "Book Monthly," always, most laudably "newsy," gives the following as the "best sellers" in Fogopolis during April -—Max Pembertoo's "The Show Girl"; Alice Hegan Eiee's "Mr Opp of Kentucky" (this is by the author of "Mrs Wiggs of Cabbage Patch" fame); Frankfort Moore's "Priscilla amd Charybids" (reviewed to-day under "Some Recent Fiction"); Henry Lucy's "Seven Tears in the Wilderness"; "Sir Eobert Hart" (of China celebrity), a biography by his niece; and General Kuropatkin's book on the Russo-Japanese War. A queer combination, representing many varied tastes. _