[Illustration: The man who collects mud-splashes from the wheels of the
exalted great.]
* * * * *
A period so bygone as that of His late Majesty KING HENRY II. (of whose
exact date you will scarcely need to be reminded) has not an immediate
and irresistible attraction for every novel reader, and it may take much
to persuade some that they will ever become really concerned with the
deeds and destinies of such people as _Jehane_ the woodward's daughter,
_Edwy_ the tanner of Clee, and _Lord Lambert do Fort-Castel_, be their
deeds and destinies never so adventurous or romantic. Further, the
juvenile manner of the pictorial cover attached to _Jehane of the
Forest_ (MELROSE) is not calculated to whet the appetite of the adult
public, and the eulogy of a well-known author, appended on a printed
slip, lacks the essential glow of the effective advertisement. It misses
the point; it is pedantic, and pedantry is the one thing for which wary
readers are on the look out in stories of antiquity. It is first
important, then, to acquit Mr. L. A. TALBOT of every offence of which,
in the blackness of the outward circumstances, he might be
suspected--affectations, anachronisms, excess of local and contemporary
colour, absence of humour or human touches, any tendency to bore. The
book presents a charming picture of the counties on the Welsh Border and
unravels a delightful tale in which the characters talk the language
peculiar to their time, but are controlled by the everlasting motives of
human nature. Though the times were harder than ours the people seem to
have been neither better nor worse than we are; and, when approached
from such a point of view as Mr. TALBOT has taken, there is nothing to
be said against, but very much to be said for, the period of 1154-1189,
which, as every schoolboy is punished for not knowing, covers the reign
of HENRY II.
* * * * *
Miss MILLS YOUNG does not, I think, improve as an artist. _The Purple
Mists_ (LANE) is her latest book, and it is not so real and satisfactory
a piece of work as _Grit Lawless_ or _Atonement_. The theme of her new
novel is the coming of love to two people who married without any other
emotion than restrained but unmistakable antipathy. Why people should do
these things so often in novels I do not know, but on the present
occasion _Euretta_ (_Euretta_ is not an attractive name) and _John Shaw_
(you can tell by _his_ name that he is a strong silent man who is deep
in his work and has no time to bother about women) are driven into
matrimony by Miss MILLS YOUNG. After a while it appears that _Mr. Shaw_
is beginning to care for _Euretta_ very much, but he shows his affection
for her by avoiding her as much as possible and snarling when she speaks
to him. It is obvious that a more kindly figure must be somewhere close
at hand eager to console _Euretta_. Miss YOUNG discovers him, finds that
he is precisely the deep-drinking, warm-hearted rascal necessary for
this kind of occasion, and provides him with the inevitable situations
proper to the _tertium quid_. The defects of _The Purple Mists_ all
arise from the fact that Miss MILLS YOUNG has been told by her friends
that she tells a good story. If, next time, she thinks first of her
characters and then chronicles their logical development, instead of
forcing them into a threadbare plot, she will give us the fine book of
which I am sure she is capable.
* * * * *
"According to the Jewish Chronicle, the number of Jews in the
world now exceeds 13,000: to be exact, 13,052,840."
_Family Herald (B.C.)_
Our contemporary should cultivate the large tracts of truth which lie
between the extreme vagueness of the first estimate and the pedantic
accuracy of the second.
* * * * *
"Rokeby Venus in Ribbons."--_Globe._
Are we becoming prudish?
* * * * *
"Breezes between North and South."--_Cork Examiner._
This is the weather forecast for Ireland, and at first sight seems
obvious; but "in view," as our penny contemporary says, "of the grave
importance of the present political situation," we suspect a deeper
meaning.