“Mr. Colby possesses a good measure of shrewd sense, a wholesome hatred of humbug and a keen eye to detect it, a practised pen, and a knack of terse, incisive, and often striking expression. But with these qualities go their defects: aiming to be brilliant and sententious, he occasionally exaggerates and makes phrases.”
Cole, Samuel Valentine.Life that counts.**75c. Crowell.
This book grew out of a series of addresses given before young people. It deals with some aspects of service but chiefly with certain qualifications of the useful life; viz. sympathy, courage, perseverance and aspiration. These are symbolized by four faces, the face of a man, a lion, an ox, an eagle, the emblem of the four evangelists.
Coleridge, Samuel Taylor.Select poems; ed. by Andrew George. 60c. Heath.
This volume of the Belles-lettres series contains select poems of Coleridge arranged in chronological order, with introduction and notes by the editor.
Collier’s self-indexing annual for 1905: a contemporaneous encyclopedia and pictorial history of men and events of the past year as recorded and described by the world’s foremost specialists in every department of human progress. $5. Collier.
Here the time saver finds in ready-to-use form the “political history of the world and of important current events in the fields of labor, industry, science, invention, the arts, sport, education, religion, and sociology.” “The material has been collated from ‘Collier’s Weekly,’ is preceded by a sketch review of the year 1904, which is to be highly praised as a model of condensed statement, and is arranged in alphabetical order, with many illustrations.” (Outlook).
Collins, F. Howard.Author and printer: a guide for authors, editors, printers, correctors of the press, compositors and typists.*$2.25. Oxford.
“The want of uniformity in spelling, capitalization, punctuation, and use of italic type causes continual trouble to all who are responsible for the editorial supervision of scientific literature in any form.... Mr. Collins has prepared his book to help in this end.... The volume contains more than twenty thousand separate entries of words arranged alphabetically. Included among these are abbreviations, disputed spellings, foreign words and phrases, divisions of words, and various rules and explanations which should prove of service to authors and editors.”—Nature.
“In conclusion we can pronounce this compilation useful, if almost without rhyme or reason and certainly not highly authoritative.”
*Collyer, Robert.Augustus Conant, Illinois pioneer and preacher.*60c. Am. Unitar.
This second volume in “True American types” series contains the charmingly simple record of the plucky career of a typical New Englander who was born in Vermont in 1811, went west in the early days as an Illinois pioneer and later became a minister with the staunch support of his young wife. After triumphing over circumstances he met his death in the Civil war as chaplain in the Union army. The author’s account is supplemented by quotations from the quaintly brief entries in his various journals, and the whole forms a significant story of the life of man who wrested happiness and success from a barren environment.
Colton, Arthur Willis.Belted seas.(†)$1.50. Holt.
Captain Buckingham enlivens a winter afternoon by recounting his adventures in South America and elsewhere. Leaving the town of Greenough and the girl he had “agreed” to marry, he traversed the belted seas for thirty years, drifting back at last to his old harbor to gaze on the tombstone of his sweetheart, and assist in her daughter’s elopement. His story includes humorous yarns of hotel keeping in a ship carried inland by a tidal wave, of a hidden treasure over which a squatter had calmly built his cabin, and of a whale which put forth to sea with a hen roosting on a harpoon embedded in its side.
“His work is never commonplace, but never before has he been so light-hearted, so effervescent of spirit as here.”
“Some of his turns of thought are provocative of the heartiest laughter, and he never permits his auditors an instant of boredom.”
“The dry, whimsical old captain spins a yarn worth hearing.”
“It is a toy, very ingenious and puzzling, we must admit, but not a genuine specimen of literary handicraft.”
“Captain Tom’s description of his eccentric mates is occasionally exaggerated to the point of caricature, and his style is inconsistent, wavering between the style of the plain mariner and that of a clever, versatile, even brilliant writer.”
“A certain knack of conversation and characterization, a certain largeness of view where the differing morals and madnesses of men are concerned, which gives them not only interest, but a sort of oneness.”
“Its humor is both spontaneous and demure, and its comedy pointed and subtle.”
“This is of the grotesque, distorted type of humorous story. His observations on human nature are often shrewd and amusing.”
“Mr. Colton’s sailor men are flesh and blood, though their adventures are the wildest flights of fancy.”
Colton, Olive A.Rambles abroad. $2. Franklin ptg. and engr. co.
The author “recounts at the outset her visit to Naples and Rome, interspersing her narrative of travel with historical discussion.... From Rome she takes us to Vienna, Budapest, Munich, Wartburg and Weimar, thence to Paris. A visit to England and Windsor castle concludes the trip. The pictures are excellent throughout.”—Boston Evening Transcript.
“Miss Colton has nothing new to tell, in this narrative of a brief European trip; but she tells her story simply and well.”
Colyar, Arthur St. Clair.Life and times of Andrew Jackson; soldier—statesman—president. 2v. $6. Marshall & B.
Mr. Colyar is a lawyer and an enthusiastic admirer of Jackson. His object in writing these books is to give a sympathetic account of the great Tennesseean, and he has produced a democratic biography which is at times historically biased.
Reviewed by J. S. Bassett.
Coman, Katharine.Industrial history of the United States for high schools and colleges.*$1.25. Macmillan.
In this volume Prof. Coman aims “to bring the essential elements of the economic history of this country within the grasp of the average reader, and she has also adapted it for highschool and college students.... There are many illustrations in half-tone in the book, as well as a number of maps and diagrams, and, besides the authorities given in the margin, the book is supplied with a list of books and their authors for the general reader.” (N. Y. Times.)
*“It supplements in a highly interesting way the ordinary narrative text-book, and will prove a valuable adjunct in the teaching of the subject.”
*“A carefully executed work, packed with information.”
*“The book is exceptionally accurate in detail.”
“While the author has not always satisfactorily exhibited the economic forces underlying the great movements and events in the history of the United States, she has, on the whole, performed a difficult task well. It is by no means easy to marshal the facts in an interesting way and at the same time bring out their significance; but this the author has succeeded in doing to a praiseworthy degree.”
*“The book as a whole is a model of clear statement and systematized information.”
Commons, John Rogers, ed. SeeTradeunionism and labor problems.
Companion to Greek studies; ed. by Leonard Whibley.*$6. Macmillan.
“‘The companion to Greek studies’ differs in scope from other books of the same class; for, besides a survey of Greek life, thought, and art in their different branches, it includes a chapter on the physical conditions of Greece, another containing chronological tables of politics, literature, and art, and a chapter on certain branches of criticism and interpretation. While each article has been intrusted to a writer who has made a special study of the subject, it has been the aim of the work to give the substance of our knowledge in a concise form.... It is hoped that the full table of contents and the indexes of proper names and Greek words will increase the value of the book for purposes of reference. Bibliographies have generally been appended to each article to help those who seek further information. Plans, views, and reproductions of ancient works of art have been carefully chosen and inserted in those articles in which illustration seems most necessary.” Preface.
“The lack of references is a serious drawback. As a companion to the reading of Greek authors, a handbook for reference about Greek things, the book is convenient, well arranged and, in all essentials, trustworthy.”
“It is not a book, but a compressed encyclopedia, a vast collection of facts crammed into the smallest possible compass. Almost the whole book is interesting, in spite of its compression.”
“Few volumes have a stronger claim to their places in the library of the classical scholar.”
“What Dr. Smith’s ‘Dictionary of antiquities’ was for students half a century ago this is for those of to-day. In concise form it exhibits the larger and more accurate knowledge gained by recent research, and also treats of subjects not heretofore presented in works of this kind. As a book of reference it is all that could be desired. Its illustrations are both numerous and fine. In this work British scholars have again scored most creditably. In their index of scholars and modern writers Americans are scarcer than the facts require.”
“If the object of the compilers was to give the maximum of information in the minimum of space, they have certainly succeeded in the attempt.”
“Of its value there can be no question.”
Compatriots’ club lectures. Compatriots’ club lectures: first series.*$2.75. Macmillan.
The Compatriots’ club, a non-partizan body, was constituted in March, 1904, with the object of advancing the ideal of a united British empire. The present volume contains eight lectures. The principles of constructive economics as applied to the maintenance of empire, by J. L. Garvin; Tariff reform and national defense, by H. W. Wilson; Imperial preference and the cost of food, by Sir Vincent Caillard; The evolution of the empire, by Hon. St. John A. Cockburn, K. C. M. C.; The proper distribution of the population of the empire, by H. A. Gwynne; Political economy and the tariff problem, by Prof. W. J. Ashley; Colonial preference in the past, by John W. Hills, and Tariff reform and political morality, by the Rev. Dr. William Cunningham.
“No better text-book could be accepted both by friends and opponents as a starting place for discussion.”
“These lectures we believe will have a wide-reaching educative effect in preparing opinion for the part which the state will take in the future in many matters from which the individualist theory has excluded it.”
“It is the work of a group of well-known men, who obviously believe what they write, and who in many respects have advanced beyond the crude fallacies and cheap-Jack promises which have disfigured Mr. Chamberlain’s presentment of his own case. It is worth while to see why such men are protectionists, and where the flaw in their reasoning lies.”
Condit, Edgar Mantelbert.Two years in three continents: experiences, impressions and observation of two Americans abroad.**$2. Revell.
The author and his wife, starting from Ireland, visited all the capitals of Europe, and then Russia and the Orient. The account of their journey is both humorous and interesting, and they give many valuable and homely details not found in the ordinary book of travels.
“The book is replete with humor, and is all the better because it is so thoroughly American in quality. Mr. Condit’s descriptive powers are excellent. In this the good spirits of the writer always predominates and it is easy reading.”
Condivi, Ascanio.Life of Michelangelo Buonarroti, tr. by Herbert P. Horne.*$7.50. Updike.
“Condivi wrote a great biography, tho no longer than a Plutarch. It puts Michael Angelo before us a genius yet a man. It is rich in choice anecdote, it describes the rivalries and reverses, the successes and triumphs incident to one of power and resource and ambition, and over all its style and treatment give the time as Castiglione describes it. The work itself and Addington Symond’s praise should have before this prompted a popular English edition. Mr. Horne’s translation is close and con amore, but the book is published in a very limited edition.”—Ind.
“Altogether, the volume is one in which the bibliophile no less than the art student will rejoice.”
“The format is less notable than the biography of the translation. Mr. Horne designed the type which is here first used. It is chaste and clearly cut, yet the page is not clear.”
“Condivi’s narrative is always delightful, it is so unaffected and sincere. The present translation is pleasant to read, having plenty of character.”
Conley, John Wesley.Bible in modern light: a course of lectures before the Bible department of the Woman’s club, Omaha.**75c. Griffith & R.
In this series of lectures the author “treats the character and composition of the Bible, manuscripts, translations, light from the monuments; and deals with such problems as the relation of the Bible to science, art, ethics, woman, education, progress.” (Am. J. of Theol.)
“A series of simple, clear and popular lectures.” Charles Richmond Henderson.
“In a class where a competent leader could fill gaps and expand outlines, the book might serve as a suggestive textbook.” Henry M. Bowden.
*Connolly, James Bennet.Deep sea’s toll.†$1.50. Scribner.
Eight stories of the Gloucester fishermen entitled: The sail-carriers; The wicked “Celestine”; The truth of the Oliver Cromwell; Strategy and seamanship; Dory-mates; The saving of the bark Fuller; On Georges shoals; and Patsie Oddie’s black night.
*“They are admirably drawn pictures of the hardest life a man can choose.”
*“Well sustains the reputation won for him by his previous stories in the same field.”
Connolly, James B.On Tybee knoll: a story of the Georgia coast.†$1.25. Barnes.
“This is a short, simple but interesting story of rivalry between some contractors on river and harbor work at Savannah, Ga. The young hero and his older partner have various exciting experiences in executing a contract that involved cutting and rafting some poles for dipper dredges. The rafts were stolen, rescued, cut adrift and finally rescued again. Incidentally there are races, fights and rescues on the water.”—Engin. N.
“One forgives the extravagance of the story for the sake of the exhilarating sea breeze that seems to blow through all the pages.” Frederic Taber Cooper.
“The present tale might be an early effort.”
Connor, Ralph, pseud.(Charles William Gordon.)Prospector.$1.50. Revell.
The story of the life of a young minister who goes from the university of Toronto to his work of self-sacrifice in the wilds. He is affectionately called the Prospector because he untiringly seeks out lonely ranches and brings their owners into touch with their distant neighbors. There are vivid pictures of Canadian frontier life and character, and there is, of course, a love interest.
“From cover to cover physical strength is glorified; but it is the physical strength of teachers and preachers, of earnest, deadly earnest, muscular Christians. Literary merit has nothing to do with the author’s success. His English is fairly sound, and that is as much as may be said for the writing.”
“The vein is worked a little too hard, and the results forced.”
“The splendors of home missionaries’ sacrifice have never been more vividly portrayed.”
“Interesting as a novel as well as valuable as a picture of Canadian life.”
Conrad, Joseph (Joseph Conrad Korzenlowski).Nostromo: a tale of the seaboard.$1.50. Harper.
Late writers have often turned to the “new lands” of South America for picturesque settings for their stories. Mr. Conrad has laid the scene of his new novel in a republic on the western coast. “In this country an English family has long been settled and has had for its stake the government concession of a silver mine, handed down from father to son, and entailing much disagreeable ‘squeezing’ from successive presidents and dictators. The descendant to whom it has fallen when the present narrative opens is the first one to make it a really valuable property, and in the development he becomes the greatest power in the state, enlisting foreign capital, building railroads, and carrying governments on his pay roll. A final desperate effort on the part of greedy politicians to get control of the goose that lays his golden egg is the main feature of the plot ... but the psychological interest predominates over the adventurous or romantic interest which justifies the author in naming this novel after one of its characters ... one upon whom Mr. Conrad has concentrated his analytical powers.” (Dial).
“A novel ought not to be a snap-shot, it should be a firmly and richly woven fabric. Such is ‘Nostromo.’ Flexible and vivid style.” O. H. Dunbar.
“Readers will find in the book ample reward for their pains in perusing it, will often reach the point of exasperation at its lengthy analyses, its interminable dragging-out of incident, and its frequent harking back to antecedent conditions. The work is a very strong one, and we can think of no other writer, unless it be Mr. Cunningham-Grahame, who could have done anything like as well with the same material.” W. M. Payne.
“As a study of South American revolution the book is a monument of realism. There is ever present a psychological question, a moral issue that is as modern as Ibsen.”
“The love element is slight and in its development irregular, and the adventurous element is not absorbing. The stream of the story is always slender. It glimmers and shimmers most poetically—what there is of it—but even at its broadest and strongest it gives no hint of bearing the reader along with it, and again and again it sinks wholly out of sight amid the silver sands of picturesque description.”
Conrad, Stephen, pseud. (Stephen Conrad Stuntz).Mrs. Jim and Mrs. Jimmie.†$1.50. Page.
A recital of the experiences of Mrs. Jim at quilting parties, picnics, sociables, weddings, commencements, and fires, interspersed by comments of Mrs. Jimmie. There is much real village life, much satire, and not a little homely philosophy.
*“This story sustains the same relation to love that an old-fashioned ‘experience meeting’ sustains to religion.”
“A tedious story of a country town.”
Conway, Moncure Daniel.Autobiography, memories and experiences. 2v.**$6. Houghton.
A frank autobiography of a long life. Mr. Conway says of himself: “A pilgrimage from pro-slavery to anti-slavery enthusiasm, from Methodism to Freethought, implies a career of contradictions.” Born in Virginia of a slave-holding family, 1832, he prepared for the Methodist ministry; but at twenty-one, alienated from his family and old beliefs, he turned to the Unitarian ministry and took an active part in the anti-slavery movement in the early fifties. In 1863 he went to England to lecture in behalf of the North, and remained in London, where he formed lasting friendships with the “good and great” of his time. His account of his experiences and his pictures of the people whom he knew are of exceptional interest.
“Two very entertaining volumes that will prove of marked interest to the general reader, and may be of considerable service to the historical student. Commendation for their general readableness and attractiveness.”
Reviewed by M. A. De Wolfe Howe.
*“On the whole Mr. Conway’s volume is the most important book of its kind that has been published during the present year.” R. W. Kemp.
“Two large volumes, and I do not think there is a dry page in either one of them.” Jeannette L. Gilder.
“He has, therefore, won the gratitude due for a compilation that makes easy and attractive reading. But it is emphatically the work of a clever journalist and genial clubman, not of a trustworthy historian. It will not be safe to use the material here collected unless it is otherwise confirmed. Mr. Conway is surprisingly careless even in matters closely connected with his own career.” Herbert W. Horwill.
“In a vivid and picturesque manner ... Mr. Moncure D. Conway tells the story of a strenuous life.” Walter Lewin.
“A man who has lived in such times and amid such associations must from the nature of the case have an interesting story to tell. Fortunately, Mr. Conway is too good a literary craftsman to let the story suffer in the telling.”
“We may say without hesitation that it is an instructive, as it is a transparently sincere, record of human experience. The first volume is meant for American more than for English readers.”
Cook, Albert S., ed. See Judith.
Cook, Albert S., and Benham, A. R.Specimen letters.*60c. Ginn.
“The range of the selection is unlimited, since it includes Cicero, Pliny, Tragan, Mme. de Sevigné, and Voltaire.... The other eighty-eight letters ... are English or American, beginning with Addison and ending with ‘Ellen G. Starr.’”—N. Y. Times.
“The collection is an admirable one, representative of every form of the epistolary art, and made particularly attractive to the general reader by its freedom from editorial encumbrances.”
“As an avowed supplement to Scoones, such of their work as he has not anticipated would have a distinct value.”
Cook, Joel.Switzerland; picturesque and descriptive.**$2.40. Coates.
A book designed for students and tourists, as well as general lovers of fine book workmanship. Six sections of Switzerland are covered—Western Switzerland, Eastern Switzerland, the Upper Rhine, the Middle Rhine, the great Rhine gorge, and the Lower Rhine, and in addition to the descriptive matter, there are numerous half-tone illustrations. He opens with a rapid survey of the history of the Swiss confederation, followed by descriptions of the Lake of Geneva, Lausanne, Vevey, and Montreux, coming next to the Castle of Chillon.
“He has here attempted to do for Switzerland what he has already done for America, England, and France, by emphasizing with personal impressions those points of human interest which usually receive mere perfunctory notice in the guide books.”
*Cook, Theodore Andrea.Old Provence. 2v.**$4. Scribner.
“The first volume deals with Provence under the Greeks and Romans. Mr. Cook writes entertainingly of the traces of Marius in Provence. He follows his march, camp by camp, through the country until he met the Teutons and the Ambrons on the bank of the Lar.... Volume II of the account of Provence is no less discursive than the first, and no less interesting in the same discursive way. It covers the period from about the time of Charlemagne, say, 900 A. D., to the death of the good King Réné in 1480, with excursions back to Greek, Roman, and Teutonic days and forward to modern times.”—N. Y. Times.
*“We heartily congratulate him on the interest of his book, but are not satisfied with it, for we feel certain that he can and will do better. The book seems to us wanting in plan, and from absence of design to be somewhat confused for the general reader.”
“Mr. Cook has not achieved a history of Provence. But he offers us a guide, indefatigable, vigorous, vivacious, eager to discourse on every subject, and primed with valuable information.”
*“There is room for many books about a region so replete with interest, and it can do nobody any harm to read this one; but, while it will not spare the traveller abroad the need of his guide-books, it has not the light and graceful touch and the gift of vivid presentation that will satisfy the reader who stays at home—the ultimate test.”
“A work containing much of interest and importance, and little that is trivial in itself, yet all so badly arranged that the reader has to pick and choose to find what he wants.”
*“Mr. Cook knows his Provence well, but he does not know how to tell about it. Nevertheless the volumes are worth buying and worth reading, for their contents cannot be obtained elsewhere.”
Cooke, Grace MacGowan.Grapple.†$1.50. Page.
The principal figure in this labor-problem story is Mark Strong who from the ordinary miner’s lot rises to the ownership of a mine. Although once a member of the United mine workers, and still a believer in unions, he will not be bound by the inflexible rules of labor organizations, and employs non-union help. The struggle that ensues gives an opportunity for an exposition of arguments on both sides of the question.
*“The seriousness of the book is relieved by an element of humor which is perhaps better than nothing, although it is a humor of a rather cheap sort.” Wm. M. Payne.
Cooke, Marjorie Benton.Dramatic episodes. $1.25. Dramatic.
Ten short plays, each in a single scene, which satirize the follies of the foibles of to-day.
Cooper, Edward Herbert.Twentieth century child. $1.50. Lane.
A glimpse into the new nursery, where smart children who make epigrams dwell. Their prayers, lessons, play, social life, punishments and health are discussed.
“The style is a mixture of slap-dash, slang, and fine writing.”
“It is rich in insight, sanity, a wise and sympathetic understanding of his delightful circle of juvenile acquaintance. The whole book is blessedly free from any touch of the patronizing.”
“The value of his book lies largely in its very personal tone.”
“Written in a pseudo-serious vein.”
“The volume as a whole is a clever and unusual combination of anecdote, fiction, biography, and serious discussion.”
“We do not take Mr. Cooper seriously; and the whole performance has an air of artificiality which produces irritation at every page.”
Cooper, James Fenimore.Last of the Mohicans.80c; lea. $1.25. Crowell.
In the thin paper and flexible cover of the “Thin paper classics” this favorite Indian story becomes a handy pocket companion.
Cooper, James Fenimore.Spy.60c; lea. $1.25. Crowell.
A volume recently added to the “Thin paper classics.”
Cooper, Walter G.Fate of the middle classes.*$1.25. Consolidated retail booksellers.
“The only way to make sure of the general good is to guard the interests of every class with jealous care. This end is best attained when each class realizes that self-protection is the best protection, self-help the best help, and self-respect the surest guaranty of the respect of others.” This forms a part of the watchword of the volume.
*“Force is not lacking in much of what Mr. Cooper advances.”
“Despite these criticisms, we think this volume a real contribution to the thought of the day, because characterized by three qualities not too often found in combination in treatises on our industrial problems, namely, a careful study of existing conditions, a sane and non-partisan judgment respecting them, and something of prophetic vision regarding the tendency of industrial progress and the direction in which it should be guided.”
*“He has no very definite plan of organization, but he has at least sounded a note of warning.”
Cooper, William Colby.Immortality: the principal philosophic arguments for and against it. $1. W: Colby Cooper, Cleves, O.
“A serious and very able discussion, from the purely philosophical viewpoint, of the logical arguments for and against the theory of the persistence of life after the crisis of death.” (Arena.) The author is a physician.
“The method of presentation, however, is less open to criticism than the typography.”
“The argument seems conclusive for the survival of life and consciousness, but less conclusive for the survival of the individuality.”
Corelli, Marie (Minnie Mackay).Free opinions, freely expressed on certain phases of modern social life and conduct.**$1.20. Dodd.
The essays collected in this volume attack newspapers, Americans, and certain unfortunate tendencies which the author discovers in modern English society.
“The style of the essays ... is perhaps even more fervidly enthusiastic than that of the author’s fiction.”
“The disputatious, not to say censorious, tone of these essays moves the reviewer to remind the writer that people are seldom to be argued or scolded into wisdom. Have the merit of brevity and at times of sprightliness.”
“Violence, prejudice, a painfully narrow view of life, and a lack of proportion ... shockingly mar her present book.”
*Cornes, James.Modern housing: houses in town and country, illustrated by examples of municipal and other schemes of block dwellings, tenement houses, model cottages and villages.*$3. Scribner.
Mr. Cornes, who as a member of the Leek town council has made a study of the question of housing the working classes, and has conducted some interesting experiments in Leek itself, now writes of these experiments, makes suggestions which will lessen the cost of house construction and “furnishes some suggestive contrasts between the opportunities for building in town and country by the inclusion of some admirably executed plans and pictures of the cottages now on view at the Cheap Cottages exhibition at Letchworth.” (Spec.)
Coryat, Thomas.Coryat’s crudities hastily gobbled up in five moneths’ travells in France, Savoy, Italy, Rhetia commonly called the Grisons country, Helvetia alias Switzerland, some parts of High Germany and the Netherlands; newly digested in the hungryaireof Odcombe in the county of Somerset, and now dispersed to the nourishment of the travelling members of this kingdome; reprinted from the edition of 1611. 2v.*$6.50. Macmillan.
Altho the humor of the three-score panegyrics which gave the book unusual vogue in its first appearance has somewhat faded with time, there remains much to interest and amuse in this quaint account of travels afoot, of dangers, and of butterflies, of manners and of customs.
“Careful reprint.”
“His latest edition is luxuriously produced, and in every way worthy of him, given the publishers’ rule of not altering or pointing out his mistakes.”
“Coryat’s style, whatever its defects, has often the true Elizabethan richness.”
“The quaintness of the original has been preserved, and it would be difficult, indeed, to imagine anything exceeding this work in precisely that quality.”
“Those who go through these hundred pages of the ‘Crudities’ do penance indeed.”
Couch, Arthur Thomas Quiller- (“Q,” pseud.).Mayor of Troy.†$1.50. Scribner.
“A quaint tale of the Cornish coast. The setting is historical, being that of the threatened Napoleonic invasion.... The mayor of Troy, who is also major of the volunteer artillery ... is ... snatched by ruthless fate from the scenes of his glory, seized by a press-gang ... and carried off to become an ornament of the British navy. The ship which bears him is blown up.... He is rescued by the enemy, and languishes ten years in a remote military prison. Meanwhile ... he is given up for dead, his wealth is distributed according to the terms of his will, and Troy does him all sorts of posthumous honors. When he returns—but we will not reveal what happens, remarking only that it is the unexpected.”—Dial.
*“The book presents us with one humorous situation after another, crowned by an invention so extraordinary that the author may fairly be said to have surpassed his own best previous efforts.” Wm. M. Payne.
*“Taken all in all, we should say that Mr. Quiller-Couch has never done much better work than in his ‘Mayor of Troy,’ and that is to praise it highly.”
Couch, Arthur Thomas Quiller-.Shakespeare’s Christmas and other stories.†$1.50. Longmans.
“A collection of ripe and forcible stories, of which the least successful is the one which gives its name to the book.” (Lond. Times.) They “range in date from the sixteenth to the beginning of the nineteenth century, and range in characters from Shakespeare and Wellington to the fishwives of Saltash and the highwaymen of Tregarrick.” (Ind.)
“We note the usual flavour of distinction in the writing, the scholarly attention to details, the little touches of observation which show how thoroughly the writer has identified himself with the beings of his invention.”
“His abundant knowledge of archeology and local color is effectively used without being made unduly conspicuous.”
“In most of these stories he does himself justice, and that is high praise.”
“Has become, for the moment and with exceptions, dull.”
“Is as good a collection of stories as its title promises, and as this vivacious, ingenious, and voluminous writer always can be depended upon to furnish at wonderfully short intervals of time.”
“The material and setting of each story are striking and original, the manner of narration attractive and ingenious, yet the general effect is disappointing and unsatisfactory.”