In An Easy Chair.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIC, Issue 13863, 27 March 1909, Page 4 (Supplement)

In An Easy Chair.

books and writers. "Rita" makes a'good second to Father Vaughn n as censor of society morals. Her present .theme is the-drug habit; her scene, for the most part, the house called '-Hnrrish," which was situated near the village of Clonmacure. on the west coast- of Trelan'd. ■_ Hither comes the. heroine, Judith- Sarsefield, to-act' as companion to Lady Moonrake. whom she soon discovers to be a morphia maniac of the most hopeless type. In the forlorn hope, of effecting a cure, her husband has brought . her away from the temptations of London, where corruptible doctors and chemists abound. lost of the story is somewhat after the manner of Wilki" Collins—that is, we have first of all "'Judith's Diary," and then the narrative "continued by Terrerice O'JTarrol." Terence is the impoverished owner of Htirrish, and Kc-returns from'the Boer War to find his house deserted by its English tenants and-transformed into a place of mystery and gloom, about which lurk ghosts and strange nTnmurs of death and foul play. How O'Farrol. spurred on by his passion for Judith Sarsefield "(whom he had known for one evening), and his jealousy of Sir John- Moonrake, sets himself to unravel the mystery of Ladv Moonrake s death, is best left to be told in "Rita's" ■well-known manner. At least-, she makes the most of a somewhat. commonplace theme.

bears intimately upon another fact which Count Andrassy brings out very clearly, the indifference of the' Hungarians to new territory—to expansion. Hungary has had none of the earth fever, which has afflicted or benefited, as the case may be, other nations. She has been practically content with her original territories. - With ou'r third book, we come to one which is rather critical of modern ; Hungary—verv critical anyhow of the attitude taken "by" the ruling race of Magyars towards the smaller races which also help to people the country. " Seotus Viator "lias already written a little volume on the future of Austro-Huugary. His studies for it constantly brought him up against the question of nationality; that met liim at every turn and clamoured for solution. "Unlike most students of the Don Monarchy, ' lie says, "I was gradually forced to the conclusion that the racial question in Austria- is far less difficult and less important than the racial question in Hungary, just as the blazing fire lipon the hearth is less dangerous than subterranean flames. It was a process of study on such lines that led him to write the present book, the object of -which is to prove " that Hungarian freedom is a myth for all save the Magyars, and even for the Magyars, they espouse the cause of Socialism or Labour. He declares .roundly, does this travelling Scotsman, that the present ruling class of Hungary stand for everything that is " anathema to all enlightened politicians in this country " ; and he gives his reasons and arguments in support of the statement.

- It is by the ingenious meshing together of "the mystic number three, Mrs Dndenev tells us, that the stones ot the world are woven; and the grouping once more occupies her attention heie. Her present heroine manages to retain our sympathetic interest up to a cei - tain "point "in her story—the stferaen death of the- husband whom a railway accident'on his wedding day had turned into a helpless cripple. He see Rachel devoting herself for five years to Francis Lorian, meekly bearing witli his bitter moods and jarring, savage jests Then Patrick Rivers, an old friend of Lorain's, appears upon the scene, and, in Mrs Dudeney's own words, we "have " the usual trite and piquant trio—two men and one woman." The sober married peace, into which poor Rachel had schooled herself is -1t an end. The writer is wise enough to leave to our imagination the three years .during which Rivers, divides his time between London and the Lorians' Cornish home; and we only see the three at the. end of an impossibly strained situation. Francis, whose eyes are wide open to reality, cannot resist spicing liis conversation with acid double-meanings; and, thou'gh the lovers have only sinned against him in the spirit, they know, that it is the heart that matters, and that they lack the courage to part. The reader will come to his own conclusions concerning the happenings after Francis's death: for ourselves, we quite fail to understand why they should have -left Rachel " certainly the most joyful woman in the whole world."

There can be no doubt ■ that our American cousins can give the British points in their whole-hearted appreciation of the Old Country. Its history, traditions, folk-lore, and topography are subjects in which they steep themselves to the finger-tips; they envy us 'our great heritage in these matters, and they did not dare, or were it convenient", would carry away with them great chunks of our ancient buildings and honoured landmarks to worship the same at their leisure. In all this they put us to shame as a people, for there is no person so ignorant of England as the average Englishman, just as there is no person so ignorant of London as the average Londoner. "From Gretna Green to Land's End," by Katarine Lee Bates, ostensibly written for an American public, makes capital reading for not only has the author taken considerable pains to be authenie (and to this end her reading and research must have-been extensive), but she lias also given us little pen-pictures of ourselves, critical but amusing. Despite occasional "digs" at us, Miss Bates is very entertaining, for she has a health}, breezv, careless style with her w Inch wins "the reader at the outset and carries him gaily along to the finish, lender and amusing by turns she tells the story of our land in most sympathetic and kindly fashion, and it is quite conceivable that many an .Englishman will be stirred by this book into a more full-blooded interest in the country which gave him birth; indeed it would not surprise us to find more than one such of our awakened countrymen seriously considering a tour ot England with this book for a guide. He might do worse.

Within the past few months quite a number of books have (sa.vs the Loudon "Daily Chronicle"; appeared about Hungary. This means, perhaps, that hitherto we have not known Huntrarv fully and that we are in process of knowing better. ooks do not come out without reason as a rule, and we nvav assume that those on Hungary wliicli have been appearing are ill response to a demand for nm"'niation. We get in the volume euited bv Mr Pen Alden what may be called a" symposium of Hungary of to-day hy leadin" men of the country itself. have some account of its constitution., its relation to other , states, its commerce, its internal administration, and philanthropic societies; in a. word a series of "vignettes of Hungary us a state which has had much leeway to make up in the matter of modern progress. but which as Mr Alden think*, is making up the leeway rapidly. He even savs that in some respects Hungary is ahead, and it sets an example to Western nations, and he says this is notnblv the case in her treatment ot child life. It is pleasant to hear that the Hungarians have a very friendly

feclin rr towards, England and-English people, Which is ' just another reason why we should bo interested in tliein and their country. The name ol Count .1 alius - Andr-assy is a familiar one in the history of Hungary. Here is a volume which is part of a book projected .by him dealing with the reasons for the preservation and development of Hhhgarian constitutional liberty. It treats of the period from the entry of the Hungarians into the country now known as Hungary; that is from -fiy-G to 1006. This is by way of saying that the book is a study of early Hungary, and it was favourable to Hungarian independence that the Hungarian invaders settled in a country which was easy of defence, by reason of its physical formation. That fact Robert Louis Stevenson was at one with Rossetti in his appreciation ot the eras-lamp. His "Plea for Gas Lamps --it is one of the.finest papers he ever wrote —will have in a few years a merely historical interest. Already ins worst fears have been realised. Mankind," he wrote, - - might have remained content with what Prometheus stole for them, and not gone tislijn<' the profound heaven with kites to catch and domesticate the wildfire or the storm. Yet here we have the levin brand at our doors, and it is proposed that we should henceforward take our walks abroad in the glare of permanent lighting." It is impossible for tins writer at least to watch that procession of pale ghosts which nightly parades Piccadilly without sighing for the kindly radiance of the old gas-lamp. There was a reticence about it, a suppression of ugly facts.