BOOK NOTICES

New Zealand Tablet, 14 March 1918, Page 11

BOOK NOTICES

Hearts of Controversy, by Alice Meynell (Burns and Oates, ss). A new book by Mrs. Meynell, published by Burns and Oates in the beautiful style which one associates always with the name of that fine Catholic firm, is an event in the literary world. Mrs. Meynell is better known to most readers through her poems, but they who have read her earlier volume of essays are aware that her prose has the same high qualities of distinction of word and thought which are the notes of her songs. Of her essays George Meredith once said, “They leave a sense of stilled singing in the mind they fill. The writing is limpid in its depths.” And depth and limpidity and that sense of calm beneficence are still characteristic of the present writings. The subjects of the essays now at hand are literary in the main. Lovers of Tennyson, Dickens, Swinburne, and the Brontes will read Mrs. Meynell’s studies of these writers with pleasure and profit. The Voice of Belgium, Being the War Uiterances of Cardinal Merrier. (Burns and Oats, 2s 6d). Here we have, in the words of Cardinal Bourne, “the public utterances of the brave heart of a learned man, who by his exhortations, ever based on sound philosophical and theological principles, has done more to shatter the power of German strength and thought than any one other supporter of our cause. Probably when the true balance can be struck these written or spoken words will be found to have accomplished more than many thousands of troops.” The allocution on “Patriotism and Endurance” is a masterly document, inspired by religion and love of country. The pronouncements on the “Papacy,” on “Prayer,” on the “Duty of a Priest” are worthy of serious study. The address under the heading, “Courage, my Brethren” is a magnificent specimen of vibrant, patriotic eloquence and a fitting conclusion to the volume. The Cardinal does not, as men who are not worthy to tie his shoes are wont to do, pretend that all the faults are on one side. He speaks strongly and plainly of the malefactors whose deeds are stains on the fair name of Belgium. He is no preacher of racial hatred. He insists that the divine command to love our enemies has not been abrogated by the war. His message of charity for all is a reproach to them that discredit the bravery of our soldiers by their propaganda of hatred at home. Indeed did not our Lord Himself declare that all the commandments of God are comprised in the law of love? And does not St. Paul say that love is the fulfilling of the law, plenitndo ergo legis est dilectio?