A LITERARY CORNER

New Zealand Times, Volume XLIII, Issue 9955, 26 April 1918, Page 10

A LITERARY CORNER

(R.A.L.) two reprints. Gil Bias. (Stanley Paul, London.) This is a unit, so to speak, of tbs Lotus Library. As such it is the only edition in tho language published in a single volume at a popular price. Tiro shillings for the immortal Gil Bias of Santillamel There is but one thing to say. Wo take it from the famous words addressed by Gil Bias himself to his readers, whoso name is legion'. “If,” says he —still lining in these shrewd, bright pages of smoothly running story, bubbling at intervals over reflective rocks—“you cast ycur eye over my adventures without fixing it on the moral concealed under them, you will draw very little benefit from the perusal; but if you read with.attention you will find that mixture of the useful with the agreeable so successfully prescribed by Horace.” Howmany authors in this world of new books that' vie with the mushroom can say the same? “LOVE AND LIBERTY.” Alexandre Dumas. (Stanley Paul, - London.) The famous book on Nelson at Naples, this i>. It has the family knack of making history delightful by the aid of private adventure, iou enjnv the adventures, with tho wit sparkling about them; and you gen«> allv find the history correct, conceding cbcerfuilv the condition that you mart take the author’s statement occasional ly for the motives by which historical characters were inspired. “NAPOLEON AND THE WAR.” George Harks. (Dymock’s Book Arcade, 438, George street,, Sydney. Napoleon did not fight in this war. But the methods of war which Napoleon perfected and Clanserwitz hammered into the military brains of our time, have a good deal to do with this war. Mr Marks has written fifty chapters of instances fortheSydney Son. Of these, one half were published m » book in February, 1915, and ran into several editions. The second twentyfive make this book. The author whose grandfather served under Napoleon in Italy in the famous Lcdi-Rivoli campaign, claims to have the best_ Napoleonic collection of statuary, pictures, and books outside France. Hw success wtih this bock shows bow much be ■ne--'ded them and how well he used them. Moreover, when a Sydney cn.is descended on him he brought him tr hook before the tribunals, and oK trined s verdict in his favour. It hM proved, as one of the nidges .said. “that Mr Marks is an insatiable reader. having in twenty years read ICO) volumes relating to Napoleon. . \fter that one expects some tion about Napoleom s ana their applicability to the greatesri ourrime. Also one expe<ris «om o Interesting talk .about j cattles and campaign methods. Ana one gets in these pages what one ex poets One also has the pleasure of being able to compare small men who lead titanic forces with the n led small forces. . _ As to that > “ , aver, it-must be said by way., of W»T ficalion that this war not being over, wo have no right to say as yet that it has produced no Titan. Some tremendous things have been done on both sides, as i s freely admitted all men who lift their eyes from the daily reports that flood the newspaners, taking wide views. Jom*, Foch, the terse Haig, Hmdenhurg, Ludendorff, havo some claims to greats ness, which cannot be settled tall their werk can be judged in the light of the truth, which to-day is constantly slipping into darkness through the fingers of special correspondents, official military critics, writers of bulletins and swarms of irresponsible people batter intentioned than they are informed. From Mr Marks wo get more* than Napoleonic parallels. As the principles of war are as old as the world, the understanding of Napoleon s application of them is increased by inferences to the various stages in the course of history. For example Mr Marks, seeing the Australian soldiery befoje the Pyramids,, is reminded not only of Napoleon, who made that famous proclamation ■ about tho forty centuries, hut of many great captains whose names emerge from the dust of those ages from Sesostns to Caesar, and from Alexander to the Caliphs. It is his way _ of putting Napoleon into a good setting, and it is both interesting and refreshing. It may be said,of this book, aa it was said of Fitchett’s “Fight for tho Flag,” that anybody could hare done it. But the fact that counts is that nobody thought' of it except these writers. , ’ This one is very much broader, for bo brings many more things into hi* review of events. For example, ho gives us a parallel between tho Rnosian and French Revolutions, and tn dealing with tho centralising policy oi Napoleon, be has much to'say of Cromwell and Kitchener. These thing* •wo mention” to show that tho author

presents us with a well-balanced view of a great subject. At the same time we. f-.o,'c say that we -an always agreo with him. 1* 9 r instance, we think ho is wrong m bracketing the two above-named revolutions, which are fundamental..!’ different in all things hut the fact that each was an upheaval after repression. Neither can wo accept his statements that the Empress Eugenio was, when the third Napoleon married her, the widow of a Spanish general who had fought under Napoleon tho First Moreover, a little more care would hare given the Battle of Austcrlitz its true month of December, instead el September.