Books and Bookmen

New Zealand Graphic, 6 April 1907, Page 38

Books and Bookmen

“THE DRAGON PAINTER”: By Mary McNeil, Fenollosa. (Sidney McCall, - 1 Little, Brown and Co., Boston.)

An idyllic Japanese love story, of more than ordinary interest and strength, the trend of which goes to show the travail that goes to the making of a great painter, or, as the Japanese term it, a “Dragon Painter,” out of a too ardent lover. There is more than a passing glimpse given of the domestic life of Japan, and a. striking example is also - furnished of the lengths to which filial love will go in that country. Interspersed with the love story arc details of Japanese art and its methods. Tim book is beautifully illustrated, ’ and' forms an exceedingly fascinating narrative illustrative of Japan, as seen throrigh the eyes of one who really knows and loves it. The book cannot but enhance the already high reputation its writer enjoys. “1 \\ ILL REPAY”: A Romance. By the Baroness Orczy. (Greening and Co., ’ London.) The wish to .get even with the individual who lias wronged us is more ’deeply" engrni-.id • in man than perhaps any other primitive sentiment. That, vengeance belongs to God, and that human beings cannot repay with impunity, is being constantly demonstrated, but in vain. Itow fut ile vengeance .can be rendered by love may be read in the new story, “I Will Repay.” by the author of “The Scarlet Pimpernel.”. 'I he scenes are laid in Paris ten years before and, during the Revolution of 179:1, and the narrative begins where Monsieur Paul Deroulede, the son of a rich but. plebign financier, and the .Vicomte de Marny, son of the Due de Maruy, fight, a duel, which ends fatally for de Maruy. Deroulede. a . man of generous and honourable instincts, and adverse to dtielling. would have spared de Maruy. but the Vicomte insisted on :t •duel ty t.he d,ealh. 'The duel over, de Marny was taken home by his .second, the Marquis de VilJcfranche. who explains to the old Dili.-, now ;t I most in his dotage, that the fault lay with the. Vicomte alone. But the .Due,, remembering only that his son. the last hope of the de Marny’s. lay <(emL called for his daughter Juliette, aged fourteen, and insisted on her taking a solemn oath to avenge her brother's death. Juliette is very averse to this, but the Due makes her repeat the following vow after him. and swear to it: “I swear to seek out Paul Deroulede and encompass his death in any way God may direct, ami may my brother's soul remain in torment until the Judgment should I break my oath.” To fully appreciate the effect of this oath upon Juliette, it must be remembered that she was young, impressionable, and a Homan Catholic. Ten years elapsed before Juliette meets with any opportunity of keeping her oath, tn ihe meantime the old Due has died, and she is living in a small apartment in. Paris with hey,old jiursc. Pctronelle, and. indeed, living upon I‘etrouolte's savings, the de .Marny estate amt revenues having betjn wholly confiscated by the Republic. Walking through the street in which .. Deroulede lives she is

grossly insulted by one of the Amazons, .whose existence was one of the greatest

horrors of the Revolution, and is dragged into safety by Deroulede, in whose doorway she had tied for shelter. Paid loves her at first sight, and insists that she and Petromdlc shall remain, for some

time, at least. yudcr ( lie shelter, of bis roof. Deroulede's mol her gives her the loving care she would receive as a jhiughter of the house, and Juliette could have been very happy but for her oath. Soon •lie discovers that she loves Paul, but the

discovery only makes her more determined to keep her oath. Overhearing one day the details of a plot that was being arranged by Paul and the gallant Scrulet Pimpernel, to effect the release of Marie Antoinette from the Conciergcrie, she informs the representatives of the National Convention of the plot, bidding- them search Deroulede’s house for documentary proof. Next day Deroulede is arrested. No sooner had Juliette posted the letter containing her accusation of Paul, than she was stricken with remorse for her Judas-like act, and she cleverly contrives to throw the suspicion on herself, by saying that she had accused Deroulede out of revenge, and she, too, is arrested and thrown into prison. Next day she appears before the Tribunal, and Paul defends her, inculpating himself, with the result that both are condemned. In the meantime the Scarlet Pimpernel has not been idle. He has arranged a rescue, and actually carries it into effete, while the mob are crying ,“A la lanterne! les trait-res!” in the Scarlet Pimpernel’s inimitable manner, and brings them to Eng. land and safety, and eventually, faults and vengeance forgotten, to love and wedded happiness. The book is eminently readable, and the delineation of the two passions, love and revenge, working in Juliette, are very line. But it lacks the force, the depth, and the high romanticism of the ever delightful “Scarlet Pimpernel.” and the tendency of its writer is to become too prolific. “THE QUEEN’S TRAGEDY”: By Robert Hugh Benson. (Sir Isaac Pitman and Sons, No. J Amen Corner, London, E.C.) An intensely pathetic story of the life and times of Mary Tudor, told, as only a scholar, a gentleman, and a Roman priest could tell it. The picture of Mary Tudor, as drawn by Mr Benson, will come as a revelation to the major it v of readers, whose sole idea of her as a queen and a woman might be summed up in that opprobrious appellation by which she has always .been known, to posterity. But Mr Benson's defence of her is so able, and his palliation of her many dark deeds so plausible that like Agrippa, his readers will be “Almost presuaded” that Mary Tudor was more sinned against than sinnimt. Mr Benson also attempts to show that Phillip of Spain was principally responsible lor the burnings, and I lie grbs< cruelties that were perpetrated upon Mary's Protestant subjects, and in showing this he only proves Mary Tudor’s unfitness to wear the Crown of England. There, arc several fine descriptions of important events during Alary's reign. Notably, her first meeting, and her marriage with Phillip of Spain. The Queen’s reception of the Pope's Legate (Cardinal Pole), when the act of reconciliation was signed, and the interview between Alary and Elizabeth, after the discovery of a plot against. Mary's life, in which it was said that Elizabeth was implicated. The contrast, between Alary and Elizabeth is very powerfully shown by Mr Benson, in this interview. Mary is described as weak, peevish, sombre, repellent — utterly unloveable; Elizabeth as love-compelling, virile, beautiful, dominant. But Mr Benson’s delineation of Elizabeth as revengeful, is contrary to historical fact. Whatever Elizabeth’s faults were, lack of generosity was no.t one of them. That plot and counter plot were characteristic of those troubled times, cannot Iks gainsaid, and that Elizabeth plotted and counter-plotted .is feasible enough. But to charge Elizabeth with threatening When she came into licr kingdom, to repay the ill service, or the non service, visited upon her while a prisoner and a dependant, is a distinct libel, and totally undeserved

by her; and the large measure of liberty of faith and conscience that is enjoyed in these days by Protestant, Romanist, and Non-conformist alike, is directly due to the “lion-nature that could not descend to the -destruction of small things.”. But,.if in the perusal of Mr Benson’s book the reader can find some slight palliation of Mary Tudor’s fault? as a Queen—in contemplation of her great sufferings as a woman—“ The Queen's Tragedy” will not have been written in vain.

“A SPINNER IN THE SUN”: By Myrtle Reed. (G. I*. Putman, New York and London—The Knickerbocker Press.)

A sickly sentimental story of the everlasting punishment order, the theme of which is the foolish grief, lasting twen-ty-five 'years, to the utter exclusion of every other sentiment of one of the principal characters, Evelina Grey, over Anthony Dexter, one of the most worthless conceivable specimens of manhood The author, not content with branding her villain with cowardice of the deepest dye towards the woman he professes to love, must needs make him a vivisectionist, which last accusation seems to have proved too much fior him, though he seems to have got along comfortably enough until her discovery of him; and he accordingly removes his exceedingly mal apropos personality in the nick of time—just ■when the happiness of the hero and heroine are trembling in the balance—to that bourn prepared for those whose death is self-inflicted. What’s in a- name? has been asked'by the poet, and that there is a great deal of signification in a name is evidenced by the one borne by another of the characters of the book, Alehitable Smith, commonly called Miss Hitty, who is quite as eccentric as her name. Under cover of a life-long outwardly expressed antipathy to men and marriage, fJic is discovered at the villain’s death to have cherished from girlhood a secret passion for him, “ coun ting-the. day, lost that brought her no sight .of him.” So thoroughly has she carried out the deception that she has brought up her orphan niece, Araminta, in entire ignorance of the claims that nature has upon h >r creatures, and has taught her to pray every night “ To be saved from the contamination of marriage.” It is some small satisfaction to find that the first distinctly eligible man that Araminta meets, namely, Ralph Dexter, the villain’s son, causes her in an incredibly short time to throw overboard the teachings of a lifetime, and alter her petition to the more vigorous plea of “ Not to be saved from the contamination of marriage.” The book is utterly absurd, and there is not a single character in it that can lay claim to the slightest air of reality. It is also mischievous in tendency and unfit for perusal by the unformed mind. That this writer can pen graceful sentiment has been shown by her “ Lavender and Old Lace.” And ihe sooner she returns to a more healthy st vie the bet ter.

DELTA.