BOOK NOTICES.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 13504, 30 January 1906, Page 3

BOOK NOTICES.

•"Naples: Past and Prfcent." Ey Arthur H. Norway. London : Methuen and Co. Second edition; 25 illustrations in colour by Maurice Griefteuhagen; cloth, 3s 6d.) ' Jt would be difficult to find a more delightful companion in a visit to Naples than this charming volume. More detailed, racy, and suggestive than the best guide book, it open? up a delightful vista of combined action and study, glimpses of an historic and entrancing past, suggestions of out-of-the-way sight-seeing in the present. Mr Norway's reading- has been wide and his powers of assimilation phenomenal. What he does not know about Naples stems scarcely worth knowing, and then he has the artist's eye for form.'and colour. Listen to the following from his account of the great Aquarium : --"Tho green depths of tile tanks are all aglow with soft, rich colour.. The sea beneath the cliffs at Vico is not more blue on the softest day in spring than the fish which glide by among these shadgws: liSr are the lights seen from Castellemare when the sun drops down .behind Ischia and the rosy flushes spread along the coast more exquisite than the soft." mult scales which glance through the arches of the rocks. Turquoise and pearl, emerald and jacinth, the gleams caught from the hidden sun above reflect the hues every gem. The strange, dense vegetation, the quick flash of moving gold and purple reveal a. world of marvellons rich beauty . . . buried in the caves and grottoes of the sea." The traveller that, Mr 'Norway takes by the hand sees many such sights 011 -land and water : colour schemes which would make the fortune of an artist: dreams of beauty frozen into stone : stories new and old, full of life and death, and tho mystery of all tilings. In Naples one is never very far from history, and the romance that treads close on the heels of history. One lias hut- to choose and Conradin, Mandred, Charles of Anjou rise like ghosts or lose themselves iii quaint folk- : lore which few travellers have the art of extracting from the silent lips whose owners fear ridicule. Are the tales true: or false? Who knows, who cares. Perhaps those which seem falsest have the truest meaning. Let us be like children, "accept the beauty, and talk of it wit/i (luitkeneu, breath and glowing checks. I hat is the wisdow of the babes; let us be content to copy it." Mr Norway himself knows how to heighten each' effect by the suggestion of something deeper, as when in the Church of San Lorenzo he feels the throb of the "human passion" of which JSoccaccio wrote, and, raisin" his _ eyes, seems to see " the subtile radiance of sympathy flash across the church from the eyes of the long-dead princes, stirring strange uneasy feelings born of hot blood and the sensuous essence of the chanting heard in the rest- 1 less days oi spring." Of present-day Naples Mr Maurice Grieft'enhagen's impressionist sketches give us some vivid pictures, and are in themselves marvels of colour reproduction. Jt is not surprising that this book has already reached b second edition. It will probably have ' 11 still more extended vogue., "A Patient Man." By Percy White, j London: Methuen and Co. Dunedin: Whitcombe and Tombs. (3s 6d, 2s fid.) I Mr White lias not been quite so happy : in the plot of his new story as in those I of his previous ventures. The workman- • ship is, of course, good, the style clear. 1 lucid, and (lowing; but the rivalry and ' plav of cross-purposes between a mother and daughter is never agreeable reading ! especially when carried so far as the mar- 1 rage of the daughter to the ex-lover of ' the mother. Polly Dacre is-one of those ! ladies who live by their wits and the weak- J nesses of their masculine "friends";' she , is not a pleasant- character, and perhaps ; the reader likes her less after her rchabili- 1 tation than he did before. Drusie's horror ] at the discovery of her mother's "methods" I is natural enough, but the extraordinary ; revulsion which throws her into the arms 1 of a villain like Reginald Hcathcote seems ' to us quite inexplicable. Nowhere in the ( book is the standard of morality very f high ; and even the hero, whose patience is embalmed on the title-page, owes his 1 " philosophy to the theory that the ulti- J mate basis of morality rests on the physical J instinct which forbids that the race should die." Mr Percy White has a keen sense- \ of humour, and some of his society , sketches are provocative of mirth, but his 'j prevailing tone is that of good-Immoured t cynicism, especially on tho subjects of ] matrimony and divorce, which he voiccs si through the reflections of the "philosophic s Meekes." As on tlie occasion when the t divorced and disgraced Hcathcote marries < the daughter of Mr P. H. lliggs, the t multi-millionaire: "Some men do have 1 luck. Fancy tumbling "through tho Divorce Court by way of insolvency into ' such a destiny! ' Wha't a noble institution 5 marriage is when properly understood! " -!

''Linked By Fate." . T'y Charles Garvice. London: Hutchinson'and Co. IJuncdin: Wliitconibe and Tombs. (3s' fid, 2s' 6d.) Cast by ill-fortune on a sunny isle of t !ii' Southern Seas, the shipwrecked crew of llic Alpina gradually dwindles lo three— a beautiful young girl; a stalwart, capable, rilling mail; and a dying clergyman. Willi a characteristic touch of conventionality, a fear of what, Sirs Grimily may say, the parson insists upon marrying the two young people. J.his curious position drives asunder two who were really attracted. Each thinks that the, other consented against his or her will, and is natural'y hurl and aggrieved, misunderstanding every word and act. The story tells how they escape separately from the island, each thinking the other dead, and then, by a. 'marvellous chain of circumstances, return to the same spot to be truly reunited in heart and life. It is a pretty, romantic story, and explains ilr Garvice's success as a novelist. The central position is by lio means impossible; its dangers, though not ignored, are delicately touched. Vano Jlannering is well drawn as a thorough gentleman in the (niest eense of that, much-abused word, and \ina. is a very charming, capable girl. We could, however, wish that the castaways had not found gold "beyond the dreams of avarice " on the lovely isle, and that Vane had not blossomed into "a ' belted earl" villi a mt-of-kin-cousin thirsting for his blood." Mr Garvice does rot ralely need these sensational materials: he is well able to depend on strong characterisation and local colour for his effects, and his work -would, gain in depth what it might- appear to lose in action if he would cwicentrato his forces instead of expanding them. "Fortune's Cap." By 3larv E. Mann. London: George Bell and .Sons. Dunedin: Whitcombe and Tombs. (3s 6d, 2s 6d.) A charming story of middle-class life and society, in which we have a number of delicate distinctions- charmingly defined—from the position of the " Tweenymaid "\to that- of the "independent " lady. The interest lies chiefly between the two heroines,- Bonnie Blabury and Tilly, the Tweeny-maid, Bonnie is the petted, spoiled, self-indulgent daughter of a selfish, self-indulgent family, ','eacli., member of which is bent on getting the last drop of pleasure out of every day," who have no ideals higher than amusement pur-

chased at/iy'cost: "All day and every day someiprojcct was in hand.. . .It was improible to do anything, impossible even to t/ink." Tilly, on the contrary, is (rained t/woi'k, to lie always civil, patient, helpful, /cheerful, to ,do, the work for which i/'ici' people; are paid. Tilly's ideal of lovel service Konr.ie's is to be served. By a .nance, which is indeed no chance, a lnrg/ fortune is left to Tilly, who, however/never rests until she has restored it tafthe rightful owner, who is also the hero' Mr Ciny Carrow. Guy is engaged to.ionnie' who iilts hiui for a richer Buijir, but his pomtv serves liirn in good ste.d and gives him time and opportuniy to discriminate between the true and tlf false, so "hat- when the ficklc lady Syiultl woo him back he has already-learned ■b find true happiness with the humbler laid.. The tale is written in a much jgliter vein than anything which we have ■ct- read from this author's pen. There ae some admirable touches of sprightly tumour, and Tilly is simply delightful. '

Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners." By John Bunyan. London: Religious Tract Society. (Revised, with colour illustrations by Harold Copping, at prices from 2d to '3« fid.)

In Bunyan's "Pilgrim's Progress" the aithor describes his strivings to gain 1 llief from tho burden of sin and his pfogress in the Christian life; in " Grace Abounding" he tells in vivid language of tie' doubts and perplexities .of - soul tljough which he struggled in the effort to oltain peace. It. is the story of. his life bijth inner and outer, and shows what sitfering, persecution, and" imprisonment lis faithful service for his Lord really njsnnt. The hook is a classic, and needs ni commendation from us; but we niacin allowed a word of praise for the lircsjnt edition, which is beautifully illust/atcd, wit-h new type and binding, in nany sizes, styles, and prices—a pleasure tp handle and to look at. '

j'A Primer of Logic." By K. -E, Con : stance Jones. London: .John Murray, ; (Cloth, Is fid.)

| It is only necessary to state that the author of this useful primer is the principal of Girton College, Cambridge, to show that the lady is exceptionally fitted for (he task she has 'undertaken, The subject, is clearly explained in a maimer which proves it to be the work of a careful and efficient teacher. The -Questions and examination papers at the end should he of great value, and the whole is a trustworthy manual 011 a subject which is being more widely studied every day.