NEW BOOKS.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 675, 27 November 1909, Page 9

NEW BOOKS.

" Stradella." By F. Marion Crawford.' Macmillan's Colonial Library. 2s. 6d. .• ; -- To the-thousands of men and women who knew-tho late Mr. Marion Crawford .through tlio novels, which have given them many hoursof wholesome pleasure, tho titlo of this book-which-iio• left unpublished at his death)'and-' V s ni r" Au Old Italian Love Talo.'f— ; will tell almost as much as a roviowor. lias any business to, reveal. The Senator Michele Pignaver, of Venice, ; an elderly, wealthy, and cultured widower, • notifies his. nicco Ortensia j that upon tho completion of her education, she. jis to become his bride. Fortunately for her I—and for the reader—tho Maestro Stradella,' i the famous smger and musician; is called in as one of her'teachers. They, love, elope with i the aid of her- old nurse, and marry. Tho astounded senator dispatches the bravi Tromhin and Gambardella to kill Stradella and bring back Ortensia. Their fortunes on this sinister quest and . the adventures of Stradella and i Ortensia in Ferrara and Rome form tho staolo of tho story. All Marion' Crawford's graceful 1 asc t-I 11 ! narr{ jtion, all his artistic enthusiasm for Italy and_for; music are apparent in his. i? t It 0 ® oc . s • °rowd his canvas .but the _personages /are clearly arid-'pictur-esquely characterised; _ The two bravi, Orten* sias old nurse, and'Stradella's faithful.hunchback servitor are good examples of'this branch of his art. .Ortensia' is one of his most charm- ; ing heroines, and Stradella, who, of course, is a really historical-personage, though' ; little is known of him beyond one glorious'song, is o very satisfactory hero. ■" - "Haifa Chance." By' Frederic, S. Isham. Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill Co. (Per G. . Robertson and Co:, Sydney.) -~ A coarse, illiterate young pugilist, a drunkard and Jialfs a beast, is convicted.of a murder which he did not commit, and sentenced- to .Transportation., The .convict ship is :wrecked,. and all the .convicts, are'drowned with the. exception; of. 'the 'Frisco Pet,'' who is yet' supposed to have: been lost'after saving the lite of a little: maid. _He is washed ashore on a desert island, and there is also washed ashore an. enormous packing-case of books, belonging to a colonial .Governor: travelling as a passenger on.the ill-fated vessel. The man appears in Lngland many years after .as a liawyer of great eminence and high character, but with a mysterious :past. Ho. falls in love with: the girl whose life., he saved years before, nobody, of course, suspecting the- identity of John Steele with the Frisco Pet." Steele's rival for tlie' hand of Jocelyn, however, guesses at tho truths ..ana Steele_is arrested.' A timely ; :confession by* ■ a criminal , saves the situation. Unrfeality hangs like a cloud about the people, in this impossible story, which is nevertheless richly exciting. "Loaded Dice." By Ellery H. Clark.' Indianapolls i Bobls-MerriU. . (Per G. Robertson .' and Co.). • .':.•/,.7.-. ■ ' • • ® ar K s , n ® w ;hovel ,is simply a' glorified ' ? t? shocker;" Dick Gordon, the villain of tho book, isiiust 'that-romantio-and l attrac-' tivo-scoundrel that all :of us who have . been young used < to, know.-and love. Ho'seeks to blackmail a 1 friend who believes ho has done' a great-wrong to Gordon's mistress, but his villainy leaks out, and'ho quietly murders his friend and another woman who is in tho jway. He -murders his'mistress and an' -old mineowner, : and -secures that , another man ' shall hang for the crime. These are the incidental aids to his gi'iuid scheme for swindling tho .public by 'a> raining' proposition. He" is; finally 'shot when on'-the, point of'murdering, some ■more people, and dies after-delivering a mournful 'homily.- upon the rottenness o'flife. fiction is: in- a,',poor- way.,when'its "blossoms are inartistic: melodramas - like." "loaded!' Dicetf One .can nevertheless remember Rose- Ashtpii forja little-lKhile—a little real passion and romance havo .' stolen into her portrait.

"The Making of Bobby'Burnit.?' ■. By y) George ■ Kandolph. -Chester..l , Indianapolis:-; Bobbs- : .'Morrill.v-; (Per. „G. ..Roberfaon and "' Co., Sydney.) - . . u. ,J!imericart}.fictiQn i! is ,; E£ih' E&eiciflg 'tp' fesd itself, and .although-,tile clouds; are,.being: pierced, iere and there,' most v • of'the'"popular"-';American authors aro feverishly attacking Old themes in a manner no longer neiv, 'aided'by "generous publishers, who givo them attrncjtivo; printing and . binding and handsome illustrations.x-But they 'aro'beginning to pall.'. The'-.bloom 'is gorio, and with'the, bloom will 1 go their public,"until, of course,-, they, find, tho; new; road out of the old meadows and public parks. Now and then there appears .something, -.which,;;, ,though .not ■strong or brilliant, is purely' American, iihd .it is as refreshing i«s ever -it -was!. -George BanV dolph Chester's new book-is such ;'a>one.,.Bobby Burnit is the able but untried son of an able father, who died.' a millionaire .after a'-haTd commercial-life. ; Bobby's mission isvto,, tako charge of -his father's -big.- "gtoro". . He ; has good stuff. in,.,.him, .biit;is as .green as.,cnh..be, and he-is the .easiestof, ..marks J-for,-. 'Silas Trimmer,, of the rival'store, who pet? possession of old Burnif s establishment. Bobby s is' sad, but no . wiser;. 'He' is given anothor' 250,000 dollars to-"burn," and he burns it again in a real-estate proposition. Ho then. proceeds to "burn" other - quarter-millions, learning as he goes, and i receiving periodically sealed packets from one of his father's executors. For old man, knew„'exactly :what, would; happen, and left's series of notes-to'meet each occasion asit: arises:;-' They : are. strange • little' messages,' terse, :wise, loving, but severe, and in the end the~ old man's faith was-,justified. . His idea was that if-his son .was to amount: to 1 anything he -mustvdo;so: by. his own ..efforts. . Bobby, finally wins when he purchases, a .'newspaper and carries oil a fierce war against local corrup-,''. tion,' and after a strenuous career he confounds all- his enemies and' .marries, ' his; charming trustee. .We are .'glad: to have again the old crispness .of the early novels of .'-.1 American business, and, what is better, real live peoplo' in the story. A brisk and delightful novel.

Professor Jones, speaking at the London Uni-.; varsity College on " Phonetics," the other day,; said pronunciation" has ■continued.^,to /develop' until ;in the present ;day spelling;'was abso-i .lately' no guide to pronunciation. -This wasexemplified in the puzzle's which ■ required the; words ;" fire " and " fixture " to bo so spelt that nono of the letters :,in them were, used.The; answer was "phya" '.and " phyhscha." " Potato " conld be spelt as " ghonghphtheightteeau," " gh" representing "p'" jn ;"hic-: cough," " ough " "o" inthough," " phth " .'ft".in "phthisis," "eigh","n" in "weigh," " tie " "t" in " gazette,"' and " oau " "o " ii "beau." - . e. y;