BOOK NOTICES.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 14185, 10 April 1908, Page 3

BOOK NOTICES.

'Graham of Claverhouso." By Inn Maclaren. London: John Murray. Dunedin: Whiteombe and Tombs. (3s 6d 2s 6(1.) This volume is not only interesting as too last finished literary work of its talented author, but for fts own intrinsic a eaTcful authentic piece of history and a singularly unbiassed portmit of a man whose living presence and memory always roused the strongest pas 6ions ill- friend and foe; who was as fool ishly adored by the one as he was cruelh maligned by the- other. As lan Maclarei points out: "Jolin Graham was neithc ft saint Jior a devil, but, liko most men half and between. It must also be sail that tlwse who hold him to have been i Jacobite eaint are delirious in their mind and hysterical in their writing, for the will not -hear that he ever did anythim loss than the best, or that the men hi persecuted had any right on their sido He is from first to to a perfect pakdii of romance whom everyone is bound ti praise. Then .artiste rush in, and no only mako fine trade of his good looks but lend J UB beauty io the clansmen win fought at Killiecrankie till the curtain fall upon 'Bonnie Dundee' being carried ti jus grave by picturesque and broken ■hearted Highlanders- drcKed in the costk panoply of the Inverness Gathering, witi faces of the style of George llacDonald o -Lord Lcighton." Tin's is the man, mixei «ngel and dovil, but always picturesque that lan Maclaren lias undertaken U paint for us, and few will bo inclinw te deny the "excellence of the picture From the daye of his allegiance as : soldier of fortune to William of Orangi to liis death on a stricken field as the lasi great ■ supporter of James the Second during the fifteen memorable years tlia elapsed from tlie battle of Sencffc to tin battle of Killiecrankie, we rarely loa eight of our hero, wlio is never eclipse* or thrown into the background by am nearer or more absorbiug interest. Hi 5s never out of the flashlight. Even in hii love-passages with the proud and beauti ful jean Cochrane, his sweetheart am afterwards his wife, she occupies only i secondary place: he is always first And wjtere he is there is his Cause—th,< Cause for which bo much blood was shed siich hundreds of lives lost, and whict was foredoomed to defeat from its verj nature no lesc tltatt the disposition of it< BupporteK. Nothing in the story is bette: iokHbanthie sense of coming failure am inevitable defeat. Graham fights for .phi losing cause with his oyes open, but witl a fervour of loyalty that is itself veri fine, and even, thrills the heart of tb" reader whose political opinions are all oi ■the other side. With the line of the born historian Tather than thi sentimental bias of the 6tory-teller, lai Maclaren holds the balance between fac and feeling, and tries .to show the merit of either side—-nay, more, he puts tin same sense of abstract justice into th< mind of his hero; and this is, perhaps going a little too far, for, though it ma' be true " that from- the first Graham hai grave fears'of the success of hie cause am more than doubts about the loyalty o his comrades/' and though "he was quit, prepared for desperate effort and even fina defeat," ho must also have been Hind ti much that the historian clearly sees There is no finer portion of the book thai that .in which the famous persecutor, ii Iris turn "the hunted rather than i-h----hunter," flees by night through the- Wes Country, knowing himself betrayed an< friendless, and driven half-crazy by tin disloyalty of some and the suspected false hood of others. A fugitive where he ha< once been a conqueror, the- best hated mai to all Scotland, and so confronted wit] " the. last blow," the lying tale of hi wife's frailty, which ho was too over wrought to detect and scorn, but allowet to "work liko medness in hoe brain." A a rule, the *uth>>?s of historical novels because they havo to deal with well-knowi facts admitting of no chauge, either centr* theinterestof their readers on 6qme minor often imaginary, character whose fate is entirely in their hands, or else so whitewash the: historical personage that hie individuality 'is almost lost in the' new presentment.' lan- Maclaren has''don* neither of these. He feels that his hew is 'strong enough to 6tand alone, and thai he' is strong enough to do such a character justice. Like the honest and inobli inan that ho was, he was more concerned in' this, his last message to the world to represent truth as he saw it even ir the midst of error, than to please anj Bpecial class or pander to any politic* creed. Ho has done his work well, "ant John, Graham of Claverhouse stands ou' from his pages neither angel nor devil but a human man,- full of faults am virtees, but always staunch to a failinj cause, a most faithful friend and lover high-couraged and honourable, who wen to his death as another man goes to hi, l marriage. And What better can be said o ,any man than this, " that he always actet according to his conscience,", and tha he was "faithful unto death." We d< not know wliat foundation there may h for the many instances of second sigh recorded in this volume, or for the accomr of "the visions" winch were seen by th< 'hero on the night before the battle o Killiecrankie, when the veil of the futun was lifted, and he saw that his "for'

years of life . . . had' wrought no lasting good to his house or land . ■ .

that all his days he had been an actor in a-tragedy .... that his King had failed him, his comrades bad distrusted' 'him, Ids nation hated him . . . all the world was against him, and nerhans also God." . l •"The Explorer." By William Somerset Maugham. London : W. Heinemami. (3s 6d, 2s 6d.) Alec MacKenzie'is a man of considerable means, belonging to a good old Scotch family, in whom the roving tendencies and the "strenuous vehemence" of his race take form in the passionate enthusiasm of the explorer, who finds himself "at home" in wild places of the earth which are anathema to the ordinary man, but the mere sight of which awakes in him a "singular exhilaration, and capacities which he 'had never bofore suspected. ... While an irresistible desire of the romantic surges upon him like the waves of some unknown, mystical sea." Suitable training and environment develop this natural taste to an extraordinary degree, and in spite of many dangers MacKenzie returns to the Dark Continent again and again and plunges into an almost private war with the slave traders, making himself univer-

sally feared and respected. While waiting in London for official sanction and supplies, he meets Lucy Allerton under . very exceptional circumstances,' calling out his sympathy and chivalry : and the , man to whom all women have hitherto been "as shadows" finds himself in love , before he knows what has happened. j Lucy is a strong, self-reliant, unselfish , woman, whose father is a scoundrel of a j pronounced type. Her conscience and . her pride are alike outraged, she feels I herself personally shamed and disgraced . by the conduct of her nearest and , dearest; for a lime she refuses to marry Alec, but begs him to lake charge of her young brother and so remove him from temptation. George Allerton proves the worthy son of his father, and Alec, in the endeavour to shield Lucy from'the knowledge of her brother's crimes, nearly loses her esteem and wrecks his own •happiness. Those are the materials from which Mr Maugham constructs a very pleasant and readable story, containing excellent character studies and many powerful and dramatic scenes. The plot is original, and '"The' Explorer" is a particularly attractive character with all the finest qualities of a "ruler of men," joined to an exquisite delicacy and almost feminine intuition. Hi's desire is to conquer the one "inconvenient word in the English language— the wprd he takes all risks with the absolute certainty of success, and the sense of power which commands it. "The natives called him 'Thunder and Lightning"' because his actions followed so swiftly upon his words, which are, under certain circumstances, absolutely scathing. The sparring and love-making between Dick Loma-s—who cultivates idleness as a fine art and considers that the " pleasures of work" have been largely "over-rated"— and the lively American widow, Mrs Crowley, afford an excellent relief and contrast to the more serious parts of the story, and establish Mr Maugham's claim to the possession of a, large share of the saying grace of humour. The deep ethical question of relative responsibilities: whether the best life should be saved in order' that it may save others-helpless women and children and ignorant slave, nwjn.-even if that life is one's own, ov\ whether the life, being one's own, must bo added to the objectless tale of ruthless slaughter, is the chief point of the story. The Explorer chooses deliberately the greatest good of the greatest number, and does it without a qualm, declaring that if it had to be done again he would do it again; but it is conceivable that , there will always be difference of opinion ' on this point. All the arguments pro and con that belong to the question of " euthanasia apply to it, and Lucy! only < escapes from the maze by a personal ' trust which is as rare as it is beautiful. '

Beau 'Brocade." Ry the Baroness Orczy. London: Grenings and Co. Dunedin: Whitcombe and Tombs. (3s 6d, 2s 6d.) . l

Tho lady who has chosen for her penname the high-sounding title of Baroness Orczy, and who is chiefly known to fame as the author of " The Scarlet Pimpernel," gives us as the hero of her new romance a young, beautiful " immortally young," superbly dressed, exquisite man masquerading ,as a highwayman on Brassington Moor in Derbyshire, the date being immediately after' the Jacobite rising in '45. This dandy highwayman is called by the rustics "Beau Brocade." The rest of the story is on a par with the title. It is a spectacular melodrama, in which smart dresses and lofty sentiments take the place of legitimate plot an,d characterisation. The heroine, Lady Patience Gascoigne, ■ who is represented as a miracle of beauty and discretion falls in love at first sight with the all-conquering hero, and • when her coach is " stuck up"' on Brassington Moor dances a fandango with him by moonlight on the heath,"while the villain of the piece rifles her conveyance of certain valuable papers and makes off with them. In the scuffle that ensues the villain shoots the hero, who henceforth alternates between fainting from loss of blood; , making bombastic speeches, and performing impossible prodigies of valour; and, to crown all, the Duke of Cumberland, who was certainly not famous for his humanity, is charmed with the beautiful youth,' forgives him all his transgressions against law and order, showers benefits upon him, and unites the lovers' hands to the tune of 'live happy ever after." As the libretto ,of a comic opera nothing could be better and as such is no doubt the ultimate aim and object of tho author it seems a waste of time to have cast the story/into a more serious form.