NEW BOOKS.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXII, Issue 51, 22 December 1904, Page 30

NEW BOOKS.

We have received from the publishers (Wfcitcom'be and Tombs, Ltd.) a copy of ' Exercises in Etngilish for the Public Examinations of New Zealand.' The book (by A. N. Burns, 8.A., edited by J. Hight, M.A.) contains spelling hstts, unpunctJuatdd passages for punctuation, exercises in turning direct into i-ndirect narrative and vLcq-versa, excrci^as in synthesis of sentences*, sipelli^p, notes, subjects of essays set in the public examitvatitms, questions on &>nonymfi and English composition, and sentences for correction. The book is published in two fiorms, A aiid B ; the tormer (with keys, etc.) .being recommended for adult and private stjudeaits, the other (withput keys but with additional exercises) fpr ptupils of Stiandard VII. acid high and secondary sphools. We j-trongly reciommend this useful little book to those in charge of Catholic primary and secondary schools (pp. 96, cloth limp, Is).

Finn Brottfiers, Sydney, have brotiglht out an ijiterestftag little book by Father Shearman, C.SS.R., entitled ' The Veneration of St. Agnes, V.M., Mary's Wait-ing-Maid.' Faltlher Shearman has m-ade a life-sttudy of the story of St. Agnes and in the presont blook has gatlhered together a great amount of interesting matter dealing witlh his subject from saints, popes, and cardinals, religious Orders and societies, from literature, lituirg|y, and arjt, ami from the history of differemt Countries. Fatlhor Shearman wielkis a facile pen and has produced an exceedingly readable and interesting brochure on his favorite saint. (Pp. 116, paper cover, Is).

The best and nvost compact thing yet produced on the Rosary is, we think, the 24-page booklet 'by our esteem**! friend ' Petronius ' of the ' Austr-al Light*.' It ia entitled ' The Rosary and llVdw to Say It,' ejid contains a series! of apt a/ntd well arranged cjuotations from the Holy Scriptures appropriate to t?ie different mys-

tih« c^ c vu L se^ oi a hl & hl y notice g» Archbishop of Melbourne describes tfce little Rosary Book as simple in thought, in arrangement, in form, in appearamce.' His Grace writes in terms of praise of tfhe form^ of melditation, the refiecticrtis whicfc follow 'the annq^icemeint of each mystery and the passages of fcxcmptfjie bearing Uheroon. ' I earnestly recommend ' s,ays he, ttois little bpo(k for p,u.l>lic and pri/va-te defpotiom, for personal arid family use.' (One penny W P pfu-blisftxer, 309-311 Little Collins street, Mcl-

We have received from the publishers (Burns and Onjtes, London) ' A True H labor ioal Relation of the Conversion of Sir Tobie Matthew to the Holy Catholic b aiwi ; with the Antecedents and Clou sequences there- • '^„ c bDok is now Published for the first time and is (jdLted, wiUh a preface, by his kinsman, A. H. Mat1^ W> uir ' I)o>bie was a Jesuit and kjnight and passed th;ro|u(gh the S!t<re»uuoius times of the persecutions of Queen Eliz.a'bfeth and her successor. He was tttie tfon of a famous Protestant divine who was notorious in the North of England for his severity towards ' Popish rec,usiants.' Yb«ung Majtthew was noted for his skill as an orator an,d disputant, and was tji© life-lons tanti intimate fnenld of Fraincis Bacon. A visit to Italy ih 1605 led to this conversion, and he was received into tihe Church in FDorence. Later on he studied for the priesthood in Rome and was onciainod in that city by Cardinal Bellarmine in 16)14. The story of his life, his conversion, and his work us tioM by himself i,n the v.oViime before us, whidh, for its intrinsic interest und literary finish will commend itself to all who are interested in-seeing, with the eyes of a contemporary, what Catholic life in E*nglanld was in l|he sttormy days of the sixteenth ajnd seventeenth centluries The hook is fruitless in paper tvne etjo. (Rp. xvi-178, 3s 6d net). '

The books mentioned above can be obtained through xmy of the booksellers whose announcements appear in our advertising columns.