NEW BOOKS AND PUBLICATIONS.

Press, Volume LIX, Issue 11491, 26 January 1903, Page 10

NEW BOOKS AND PUBLICATIONS.

It & impossible to analyse or describe Sir J. M. Baxrie's latest bJok, "The Lttle White Bird, because, like the subtle essences wheih gave the distinct aroma «r flavour to a good wine, it defies analysis. Plot it has none except what is impossible «nd absurd. If we say |hat the book tells how an elderly London bachelor falls in love with somebody else's baby, carries him off with his perambulator into Kensington Gardens, wheels him about, dodging the anxious mother, meeting witlh ail •orta of strange fantastic creatures and curious adventures—we should peihape give the impression that it is a child's book of nonsense and nothing move. Some people there are without the prace of imagination or sentiment, who may perhaps toss it aside in impatience, declaring with a grunt that it ie "all a pack of rubbish." Wβ can only say the** poor people are io be pitied from the bottom of one's heartThose who love Charles Lamb, however, wiilsee in "The Little Whit* Bird" much t»f his whimsicaiitv of humour, added to a tenderness of sentiment, a delicacy of char-acter-drawing and a refinement of feeling quite unmatched in any modern wrir-er save and except Mr Barrie himself. (London: Hodder and Stoughton. Christehurch: Fountain .barber, 3s 6d and 2e 6d.)

In the "Lady of the Barge" Mr W. W. Jacobs not only gives us further specimens of the nautical humour with wh'oh his name is most prominently conneoted, but. reveals himself as no m«m artist in the writing of sensational short s'.ories. "The Lady of tllie Barge" and "Bill's Paper Chase" are good examples of Mr Jacobs s familiar style of humour. "The Well" is pure melodrama, slightly reminiscent of Miss Braddon in her most sensational mood. Of all the stories in the book, however, we think that "The Monkey's Paw" is decidedly the most powerful. Its tense Etyle of narrative keeps the reader spell-bound from start to finiaih, and from an artistic point of view the dramatic suggeftaveness of the laet few lines is unsurpassrt , by anything in De Quincey or Edgar Allen Poe. Tim may seem exaggerated praise, but we recommend doubters to read the story and judge for themselves. (London : George Bell and Sons. Chxistchurch: Fountain Barber, 2s 6d.)

A very delightful book is "The Sea Lady," by Mr H. G. Wells, quite in the best style of hie humour, imaginativeness, and satire. The Randolph Buntings, good, homely people, of a widely diffused Hampshire stock, "addicted to brewing," had taken for the season at Sandgate a house, with grounds running down to the sen. Staying with them were the two Miss Glendowers, "half-sisters and g«ntle beyond dispute, a county family race that had only for a generation stooped to trade, and risen at once. Ataure-like, refreshed and enriched." Into this middle-class household in the year of grace 1898, there is introduced a real mermaid, "rescued" from the sea by Mr Bunting 'and his eon Fred, under the impression that she is a beautiful young lady in danger of drowning. It turns out afterwards that it is all a deep and daring design on the part of this artful minx—if it is permissible to speak ot the "Sea Lady" in such terms—to get into human society, partly in order to see what it is like, and partly, it would seem, to be able to comb her hair in comfort instead of having to do it on the damp sands moonlight in approved mermaid fashion Furthermore, she is anxious to get a soul, mermaids being naturally without any, and this particular specimen evidently finding :• tail a very inadequate compensation. Good Mrs Bunting takes to the interesting stranger in the most motherly fashion, and consents to receive her into her house ac a "paying guest." With the aid of a dress fashioned by a discreet kdiee' maid, and a bath chair, the mermaid's secret is successfully kept, and she pasees for an interesting and very beautiful invalid. The havoc she causes, the humorous situations which arise, and the tragic end of it all, are fittingly told in Mr Wells's most lively style. (London: Methuen and Co. Christchurch: Whitcombe and Tombs, 2s 6dd.)

One of the characters in the charming story just noticed is stated to have "written some passable verse and edited Jane Austen for the only publisher who had not already reprinted the works of that clas eio kdy." After this tribute to the perennial popularity of Mies Austen's works we turn with fresh interest to the latest edition issued)—the pocket classics series by Messrs Macmillan and Co., Ltd We have 'before us two volumes —" Sense and Sensibility," and •" Emma," and most dainty and charming; I little volumes they ere. There is an admirable introduction to each'by Mr Austg| Dobson, and illustrations by Mr add much to the interest and attractiveness, of the books. No need nowadays to sing tne praises of Miss Austen. Sir Walter Scott, it will be remembered, admitted that although Jie could do the "big bow-wow business" pretty well, he could not approach Mies Austen in the delicate delineation of character. Yet it appears from -•■a - Austin Dobson's introduction to " Sense and Sensibility," her merits were only imperfectly appreciated during her lifetime, -when her "fit audience" must have been emphatically "few." Of two criticrisme which came out in the " Quarterly" early in the century, she could only have seen one, that of 1815; the other, by Archbishop Whstely. the first which treated her in earnest, did not appear until she had been three years dead. At the present time no one questions the fact that Jane Austen is one of the English writers, whose works will live probably as long as the tongue in which they are written. Those who have not read them should certainly add this edition to their bookshelves, and even those who ore familiar with them will find it a pleasure to reread the novels in so -attractive a form (London: Macmillan and Co., Ltd. 2s net.)

"The Branded Prince," by Weatherby Chesney, supplies its chief interest in a speculation as to why such a work commended itself for inclusion in Met-huen's Colonial Library. The very thin story it contains is of the poorest amateur detective type. An Indian Prince in London is found dead, and marked apparently by the brand of a secret society. His murderer is in fact a barruster-at-law, who has acquired a habit of homicide, partly with a view to other men's goods, and partly, we aro told, to gratify his sense of humour. As a modern villain, he, of course, adds to his crime some tricks of hypnotism. The detective element is supplied by the efforts of the Prince's friends to discover the criminal. All is conscientiously arranged for action thai fails, neverthleees, to be either humorous or horrifying, or anything else but chill. Mr Weatherfoy Chesney gives a. list of six previous publications, yet " The Branded Prince" nowhere suggests more than a crude beginning in authorship. (London: Methuen's Colonial Library. Christohureh: Whitcombe and Tombs, 2s 6d.) *■.

In " The Puppet Crown," by Harold Macgrath, an American novelist forsakes the historical fiction of his own country for th* j romance of an imaginary Austrian State. The American touch comes in rather ■ quaintly at times; a» when, for example, \we are told that the oppressed Prince Frederick, of Carnavia, placed in difficult circumstances, " swore some." The hero k a United States attache, wliose diplo- . matio duties call him to a land where _ " every hundredth man is a king, one iv. fifty is a*duke, every tenth man is a prince, and one cannot take a corner without bumping into a count or a baron." Here oJso is a beautiful Princess, whose paralytic father wears the " puppet crown." An unscrupulous Grand Ducbtse claims a

better title' to it, and the usual romance poßsequen<ses are f=et in train of courtly intrigue, love-making, and blood-spilling; ; : The story is told with spirit, and may take & fair place aroona?t the lore and adventure tales for which there seems constant demand. (London: Methuen'e C'oloniai library. Christdiurcli: Whitcombe and Tombs'. .2s 6«U