In An Easy Chair.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIC, Issue 14003, 11 September 1909, Page 3 (Supplement)

In An Easy Chair.

LSOOIvS .AND WIUTEHS. "The Hise of Louis Napoleon " is the title of a book by Mr I'. A. Simpson which -Mr Murray is about 10 publish. It is a. contribution towards the study of a period in the history of the Napoleonic dynasty which has hardly yet received its due —that period between the l'all of tiie First Empire and the rise of the Second. It is only recently that men have begun to realise how largely the process which bridged the gulf between Ihe two great imperialist experiments in France was the work of Louis Napoleon himself. Alike by their intrinsic interest and their historical importance, the extraordinary adventures through which this Prince of Pretenders won his way back to his kingdom deserve a more detailed description and a more searching investigation than they have hitherto received. Mr Le Queux's story (The House of Whispers) is an experiment, not 011 his part, for lie long ago found his readers, but 011 the part of his publisher. We hear great talk just now of the new full-length novels at a florin net. So Mr Evelcigh Nash reasoned with himself: "Let ns take a story by a popular writer, and see just what can be done in the way of circulation with' it —a six-shilling novel at two shillings net." Naturally many more copies must be sold than if the story had appeared at the usual price, and that being the rub it will be interesting to hear the result. As to the story itself, why, it contains all the ingredients which Mr Le Quetix is accustomed to serve up to his readers, and the name of the mixture is "sensation." The characters include a blind baronet, who lives in a Scottish castle, his wife—his second wife —and his daughter, Gabrielle. The second wife is not, like Caesar's wife, above suspicion, while poor Gabrielle is unjustly suspected of a murder. But you can master, the whole • plot for 25., therefore we must not give away more of it.

There was a time when military books, unless indeed memoirs, had no great sale in England. Some poopie argued from this that our young officers were not studying the liters-: ture of their profession so keenly as they might. However that may have been, works 011 the strategy of t.lie great military campaigns of history are now being more read. General vo'n Horsetskv's "Short History of the Chief Campaigns in Europe since 17!)2" is such a work, and of it'Mr Murray is to publish a translation made by Lieutenant K. F. Ferguson. ''George Paston's" book on " Mr. Pope: A Chronicle of his Life and Work," is based on the correspondence of the poet, published and unpublished. 011 the autobiographical, passages in his poems, and on the allusions to him* in contemporary letters and pamphlets, whether complimentary or the reverse. His friendshins and his quarrels are fully dealt with, •while a summary is given of his principal works, with illustrative extracts. The author has discovered - a considerable number' of ' unpublished letters, some of which are printed in full, while the most interesting passages are quoted from others. A new writer? A' new genius? There is aKvavs the possibility. Mr Arthur Brebncr comes with the introduction that he is the brother of a novelist. What sheaves does he bring? You get an inkling from the' lines .on the title-page: "He holds him with liis skinny hand—There was a ship, quoth lie." "John Saint" is a story of modern piracy on the high seas, and instead of being hung at a vardarm,' as he should have been, John Saint repents aiid—restores Lajlv Sylvester's jewels to Iter. That was an emotional moment, arid there are other moments of the sort in this story. It is not a: "Treasure Island"—alas! we may have to. wait long for another " Treasure Island." Perhaps we shall never meet John Silver. John Saint is in the' more modern, less finished style of Captain Kettle, but a villian all the time. He is- first mate of the Four Winds sea tramp, and he gets her-to pilot an Australian liner homeward bound, arid then to• _comc along a few days - later, quite unexpected like, and take-the same ■ helpless liner in tow. : Mr* Brebner supplies the full ingredients of a sensational novel, and it. does - not matter if now and then they r.ither rim over the dish in aii unmanageable way. There are people who like that; —many of them—and John Saint, will probably find them. If he did not shoot the • wicked ship-owner dead it was lwcause it was lie did not want to do so. but most- things lie wanted to do.' Ha is a wonder and readable.

"Political Annals of Canada." — Mr Cockburn was a member of the first Parliament of Ontario, rind has sat in four Parliaments of- the Dominion. He may, therefore, --claim to deal with the political record of Canada to no small extent as a' firsthand authority. He describes his book as " a condensed record of Governments from the time of Samuel de Champlain, in 1608." It is, indeed, so severely condensed as to be .almost indigestible to any but the student. Greater literary gifts than Mr Cockburn possesses would bo necessary to lend life and colour to this account of tho work of French and British Governors, and of tlie various Parliaments down to the arrival of Earl Grey and the sub-division of tlie North-West Provinces. Nevertheless the record may usefully be kept at hand a's a supplement to other reference books, • though the reader must be oil his guard against certain errors. Mr Cockburn has a rather unfortunate superiority to the French accent, and writes of "an attache," "the Prince of Conde," " Gaspe," etc. Sometimes his . references demand' knowledge. For instance, when lie writes of "the barren three years' occupancy'of Quebec by the English," he presupposes' that his reader knows all about the Kirkes. On page 33, the statement that the southern- and westerly boundaries of Canada were moved by tlie Treaty of Paris, in 1783, " si long distance northward ami eastward, to the aggrandisement of the new llepublic. of North America," requires elucidation. On page 181. he refers to the appointment of "John George Lambton, M. P., Earl of Durham "; on page 184 he calls Edward ■ Gibbon "Wakefield " Edward Gibbons AVakclicld " ; on page 524 he describes the Hight Hon. Sir Robert Bond as the Hon. Robert Bond. Such slips hardly go to make the volume "the reliable and impartial " authority with which Mr Cockburn seeks to provide us. Mrs KernaUan's novel (" Ashe's of Pitssion ") is well named, and is consequently far from domestic. It is characterised by two feminine portraits which strike one as being excellently observed and faithfully rendered. One of '- the?.-! is a mother-in-law, who appears in the traditional colours of that often malianed class; and the other is the lady who is responsible for the ashes. She is a careful study of- a -certain type of woman which is much too common to-dav. one who is

willing to ' imperil, her own happiness for tho temporary gratification- of her vanity, and'- who lias- a constitutional incapacity to distinguish between • the results: of gratified vanity and -love. Christobel Moore is the cause, of all tho: trouble in this story, though ione must admit that-her husband was? foolishly and almost * incredibly blind; Christobcl • subsequently illustrated that well worn quotation, " HcJI hath 110 .fury like- a-woman; scorned," ■ and almost succeeded in wrecking the belated happiness of the ■ man whom she had: already ruined once. Yet it was a pity that she should descend to such depths as are revealed in Mrs Coulsou Kernahan's • graphic, : pages; Her hull essay was diabolic, and" her end was lurid.

Diversity, as-lias often been pointed out, is the note of modern iction, and particularly of modern . K..j»!isii fiction.-. .'-.-There-is a .wider range to our insular ; novel ' than obtains, '"say, in France.- or- Germany. Vat- be l it from a casual reviewer to weigh-in the balance' the imagination and art of nations; .but it is probable that the greater license-allowed to •young readers and the fact that the .novel-read-ing'public-in this country comprises ai! classes and ages and both , sexes, has been instrumental iu broadeniug tiia scope of our fiction. Thus, whak-vcr the quality inay;'be, the quantity End variety of English fiction are jji.jz-