"The student of Church history will do well to take Dr. Bertrand's Life."
"The student of Church history will do well to take Dr. Bertrand's Life."
Mother.First Sportsman (on the way home after dinner)."Hi! look out where you're going!"Second Sportsman."Look out yourself! You're driving, aren't you?"First Sportsman."No, I thought you were."
First Sportsman (on the way home after dinner)."Hi! look out where you're going!"
Second Sportsman."Look out yourself! You're driving, aren't you?"
First Sportsman."No, I thought you were."
(By Mr. Punch's Staff of Learned Clerks.)
I doubt if Messrs.Asquith, Churchill, Edmond, Lloyd George, or even ColonelSeelyhave leisure these days for novel-reading, and, if they have, they might be reluctant to devote it toThe Ulsterman(Hutchinson). It does not treat of their favourite subject and, so far from offering any solution of extant difficulties, adds yet another complication to the Home Rule question. Everything from revenue to religion having been discussed, no one but Mr.F. Frankfort Moorehas thought to deal with the love interest. What is to be done, the tale suggests, for the young lovers in the North whose families are loyal to different sovereigns?Nedwas the son of a stalwart, if somewhat snobbish, adherent of His MajestyKing George the Fifth;Katewas the daughter of a would-be subject of the DivineDevlin, and things could never have gone well with them had it not been for the intervention ofNed'suncle, who had been so long out of Ireland that he had ceased to cherish any keen feelings in the dispute, and had been so used by his brother in the past that he was only too glad of the opportunity of spiting him by getting his son married to a Papist. But there are other cases, where no such facilities are at hand, and, if Mr.Moore'spicture is a true one, it must go hard with such couples. What is to be done for them? Are they to be told to wait six years and see? I hope not, for whatever they might see in the period could have no interest for them? This matrimonial difficulty is one, at any rate, which, as all must agree, even that reputed panacea, the General Election, cannot be expected to cure.
I think I never met a book more "racily" written—in a special sense of the word—thanThe Progress of Prudence(Mills and Boon). Horses and hounds play so large a part therein as almost to be the protagonists; certainly they are the chief influencing forces in the development of the heroine, from the day when she attempts to purchase one of the pack, under the impression that they are being exhibited for sale, to that other day, some time later, when her own entry finishes second in the Grand National. You will notice thatPrudencehad progressed considerably during the interval. Her early ignorance was due to the fact that she had only just developed from a slum factory-girl into a landed proprietress. The father ofPrudencehad been a miser; and, when he died in the attic where he and the girl had miserably lived, he left her a fortune, and instructions to spend it on real estate. So Mr.W. F. Hewerstarts us on a pretty problem—how, in these circumstances, willPrudenceget on? Of course, she gets on excellently; and soon is as keen a rider to hounds and a judge of horseflesh as any in a neighbourhood where those accomplishments are held in high esteem. Equally of course there are men, nay lords, who fall under the spell of her attraction; but when I tell you that the groom-and-general-horse-master, whomPrudenceengaged, and under whose tuition she so prospered, was a gentleman who had seen better days, you will probably have already guessed the end of the tale. This is reached after some scenes of pleasant humourand sentiment, and after I don't know how many runs with hounds, given with a minuteness of detail that shows Mr.Hewerto be a practised master of his subject. The same remark applies to the various meetings at whichPrudence(surely a little oddly named?) sees her colours carried to victory. Altogether a stablesque romance that should appeal irresistibly to its own public.
The Mailing of Blaiseis Mr.A. S. Turberville'sfirst novel, and it is easy to understand why Messrs.Sidgwick and Jacksonhave drawn attention to this fact. For the work reveals a great ignorance of, or a supreme contempt for, the art of construction, and its theme is very hackneyed; but at the same time Mr.Turbervilleobserves so keenly that I groan in the spirit when I think of so much labour misspent on a subject unworthy of his talent. Here we have a boy with the artistic temperament born into the house of oneBrown, a Cheapside tailor with puritanical prejudices and the mind of a sparrow. He and his rather futile wife were enough to make anyone rebellious; but too much irony is spent upon them, and it would have been less difficult to sympathise withPhilipif his parents' point of view had been more fairly stated. After many domestic frictions the son rushes away from London and lives a Bohemian life (extremely well described) on the Continent, until he marries a delightful and penniless wife. All the marks for charm go toAthénée, unless a few of them can be spared for their child,Blaise, who had, or so it seems to me, great trouble in thrusting his way upon the scenes.PhilipandAthénéewere going to do great things for their son, but unfortunately both of them were killed while he was still a little child, and he had to be retrieved to the bosom of theBrownfamily. The change from freedom to rigorous conventionality did not suit poorBlaise, and I could not be very sorry when he annoyed most of theBrownsby catching measles and petrified all of them by not recovering. Still, he lived long enough to get his name into the title, though this, I feel, was a bit of favouritism.
The Way Home, byBasil King(Methuen), describes the spiritual wanderings of a New Yorker,Charlie Grace, destined for the ministry; rejecting it, because of his disillusionment through the practice of the professing Christians about him, in favour of a hunt for the money which alone he finds can earn respect; adopting in business the inverted Christian motto, "Down the other fellow before he downs you"; drifting in and out of loves clean and sordid; and finally, broken in health, discovering the way, through the bitterness of a deeper disillusionment, back to an estranged wife; and yet another way to somewhere near the faith of his childhood and the peace of resignation. Barely is so serious a theme treated by a novelist with such simplicity, sincerity and eloquent reticence. Nobody need fear the dulness known as "pi-jaw." The story is full of interest. The characterisation, extraordinarily careful and balanced, is conveyed not only in description but in the cleverly-constructed dialogue. It is part of the author's skill to representHilda,Charlie'swife, with her charming reserve and dignity, as not a little difficult and exacting, and so to divide our sympathies fairly between the two. There are many other living characters, of which oldRemnant, the sexton, with his queerly American business notions of religion and dislike of the "riff-raff," is too nicely absurd and human not to have been drawn from life. There is very good stuff indeed in this book, which seems to me in every way an advance uponThe Street Called Straight.
It is all a matter of taste. If you like that sort of book you will likeThe Great Attempt(Murray), for Mr.Frederick Arthur'sstory is quite good of its kind. But what sort of a book is it? Well, on page 31 one character says to another character, "Now listen. Thou knowest that there is some mystery regarding the heir to the estate. He is said to be in hiding abroad. The truth is that they have cheated him out of his inheritance and he can't do anything until he finds his papers." And yet it is not entirely that sort of book, for Mr.Arthuris evidently a thoughtful student of history, and he has drawn quite a vivid picture of the events leading up to the battle of Culloden. His sympathies are on the side of thePretenderand his cause, and he can see nothing to approve of in the ranks of the Hanoverians. I am content to take his word for the rights and wrongs of the case. The whole matter leaves me a little cold. I have no actual grievance against theOld Pretender, thoughBonnie Prince Charlieis one of my pet aversions; but I consider that enough fiction has been written about him already. In the matter of subjects for novels I should like to institute anIndex Expurgatorius. It would contain the twoPretenders, the French Revolution, the American Civil War,Napoleon, and most of the other well-worn names and events of history, and would remove a powerful temptation from the path of the young author. Missing heirs in search of papers I do not so much mind. Indeed, I am on the whole fond of missing heirs. But missing heirs with an historical background make me tired.
Mother.OUR CURIO CRANKS.Enthusiast (to diner who has just told a good story)."Would you mind repeating that? It has been so well received. I wish to add it to my collection of Records of Good Things."
Enthusiast (to diner who has just told a good story)."Would you mind repeating that? It has been so well received. I wish to add it to my collection of Records of Good Things."
"H. S. O. Ashington, who won three events last year, was expected to repeat the achievement yesterday. He figured in the hurdles, high and long jumps, and if he had not taken the high jump, which he won at 5ft. 8in., the probability is that he would have done the hat trick. His initial exertions, however, told against his hurdling."Daily News.
"H. S. O. Ashington, who won three events last year, was expected to repeat the achievement yesterday. He figured in the hurdles, high and long jumps, and if he had not taken the high jump, which he won at 5ft. 8in., the probability is that he would have done the hat trick. His initial exertions, however, told against his hurdling."
Daily News.
Unfortunately the absence of them would have told still more against his high-jumping.
"Dr. John A. Bassin performed a surgical operation at Poughkeepsie, New York, on a boy whose heart was too weak to permit the use of an anaesthetic, and who was lulled into unconsciousness by the strains of 'Highland Fling.'"
"Dr. John A. Bassin performed a surgical operation at Poughkeepsie, New York, on a boy whose heart was too weak to permit the use of an anaesthetic, and who was lulled into unconsciousness by the strains of 'Highland Fling.'"
To make this story more credible theSingapore Free Pressheads it "Dacoits in Burma."