BOOKS OF THE DAY

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 3, 28 September 1918, Page 11

BOOKS OF THE DAY

THE NOVELS AND STORIES OF LEONARD MERRICK. It is with unfeigned delight,' that "Liber," who for many years has boon numbered amongst tho most faithful admirers, by no means so extensive a company as they might be, of the. novels and short stories of Mr. Leonard Merrick, now welcomes a new edition of that author's works. Exactly how it 'has come about that Mr. Merrick's work is not better known than it is, I for my part fail to understand. For it is always of a high standard of literary merit; it is bright, fresh, and emiiiontly. entertaining, and it .abounds in firmly etched character sketches. Of late years his earlier, books, having gone out of print, have been difficult to_ procure. Ono or two havo been reprinted in cheap editions, but to make iip_ a sot of those admirable stories had become almost impossible. Now, however, that a collected 'complete edition has been _ rendered available by the enterprise of Messrs. Hodder and Stougliton, the fine work Mr. Merrick has accomplished iu fiction should rapidly become more- widely known and better appreciated. Tho new edition possesses a very novel and attractive feature, _ in that each story, or collection c-f stories, is honoured by the personal and special sponsorship of some distinguished brother . novelist, eminent critic, or man of letters of high standing. Thus, tho opening volume of tho series, "Conrad in Quest of His Youth,"'possesses a, preface'by Sir James Barrie, and succeeding ' volumes will havo introductions, by Sir William Robertson Nicolj, Gilbert K; Chesterton, and J. K. I'rothcro, all three, to 'bo esteemed as keen and reliable critics. Sir Arthur Pinero and Mr. Granville Barker, the well-known playwrights, and Messrs. AV. ,T. Locke, \H. G. Wells, Maurice Hewlott, A." Neil Lyons, and the veteran American litterateur, Mr. AV. D. Howolls, • aro among the novelists' who, contribute prefaces.' It is understood that tho gontlemen whoso names aro set fortlv abovo are agreed on tho point tiiatrMr. -Merrick is, as Sir James Barrio puts it, "ono of the flowers of their calling." Mr. Merrick has long been "tho norelists' novelist," and some of the most esteemed and successful of his _" fellow writers "have joined with certain leading literary critics in volunteering to write the preface .to tho various volumes.

Sir James Barrio's introduction bristles with examples of the famous Scots novelist's quaint humour;- Referring to the skilful way in which Mr. Merrick tricks his readers in "Conrad " as to tho way tho story .will ond, Sir James writes:—

Tltcre aro a hundred surprises.iu "Conrad." Even when you have travelled with tho hero far, and know what circumstances ho is next to bo placed in, shut tho book and ask yourself what is to happen, and you will find you don't know in tho least; twenty lines from the plosa you havo no idea, how' the story is to end. And yet when we come to the end we must feel that there could have beeii no other, that, he merely, discovered tho truth. Nothing .is quite so fascinating, in novel ■ reading, as trying, os it.'were, to make, tip on an author).who keeps one stcpin front in this way; and.it doubtless '"accounts for the. lady who accepted the hand of a, publisher on condition flint ho told lior how a certain tale then running in his magazine was to end. Very likely this is how all publishers get married. ... . „ AVhcre ■ Mr. Merrick ~is specially strong is in the almost uncanny cleverness wiHi which he sees into _ and analyses the working of that highly elusive entity, the feminine mind. Ho is a born, story-teller, and his stories, too, are full of pleasant surprises. Ho favours comedy rather than drama, and his humour is gay and alluring rather than of the ironic type. I havo just re-read "Conrad in Quest of His Youth," a copy of which reaches me from the publishers, Messrs. Hodder and Stougliton, and I have onjoyed it as much as ever. Sir James Barrie describes.it, I notice, as "the best sentimental journoy that has been written in this country since the publication of the other one" (Sterne's masterpiece is, I suppose,, hero indicated), and ■' although I cannot go so far as does Sir James, in putting Merrick's novels on a level with those of Thomas Hardy, I can quite agree with-the Scots novelist's dictum that '.'Conrad" is "as fresh as yesterday's shower," and a fascinating and wholly delightful picco of literary craftsmanship. The hero- is a gentleman Hearing forty, who returns to England after alongthy sojourn in the colonies, and devotes himself to searching for an old playmate o'f his childhood for whom he had a very deep affection;. He is sadly disillusioned when ho meets tho object of his search, by this timo a stout, silly,_ and snobbish married' lady. Disappointed with Mrs. Barchester-Bailey —as disappointed as, was Dickens when ho discovered the long lost lovo of his youth iu the inexpressibly foolish Flora of Little Dorrit—he is speedily eonsoled by tho discovery of "another lady with whom, at seventeen, he had had certain sentjmcntal passages. ..The scene'now "changes from London to Ostend— Ostein! of tho pre-war days— and some lively pictures aro given of tho somewhat too deliberate gaiety of the .famous place. Tho experiences of the hero in his attempt to revive, iu the handsome, if just a trifle passec, Mrs. Grico Adair, are very amusingly sot forth. Tho lady is by no means unwilling to recall the past) and hopes, too, that .Conrad's new interposition in her life may supply tho excitement for .which her jaded senses crave. Thoro is some, clover dialogue in this! part of tho book. As thus: '

"You hurt inc." said Conrad, "because for the first lime I realise you arc dill'erent from the rjirl I've looked for. Till now I've felt that I was with lior again." "That's -nice ot you, hut it isn't true. Oh, I like yott' for saying it, of course. . . .- If you had felt it really-" "Go on." "No; what for? I should only make you unhappicr." "You want comedy?" ho demurred; "you have saiil the saddest things a woman ever said lo me!" She raised a white shoulder with a laugh. "I uovcr get what I want!" "It should have taught you to feel for rue. but yoii' are not 'wondrous "kind."' "Oh. I am more to be pitied than you aro! IVhat have I got in my life? Friends? Yes-to play bridge with. My husband? lie delivers speeches on local option, and climbs mountains. Itoth make ino deadly tired. I used to go in for music—'God 'Save the King' is the only limo he knows when he hoars it, and ho only, knows that because tho men lake their hats elf. I was interested in my house at the beginning—after you've (itmrrellod in your house every day fur years it doesn't ahsorh you to make tho mantelpiece look pretty. I wauled a child—well, my sister has seven! . Voila my autobiography up to date." '"Micro is to-morrow," said Conrad, moved. "To-morrow you must give mc the comedy," she smiled As a matter of fact, the "comedy" which the hero provides is disappointing, and tho revived acquaintance closes suddenly? and with a. singularly' unromantic incident. JCveutually, however, tho hero finds permanent solace and comfort in a now acquaintance—a very charming young actress—and at once regains his youth. Tho immoral truth was clear to him, ho had made his great discovery—that a man is as young as often as ho falls in love. That Itosalind had b'liauty was an irrevel-? ance again, to her lover a woman is what she mikes him feci. Whether sho is fair

or ill-favoured, whether she is worthy or worthless, whether she is formed _ liho Venus, or clasps him in amis as thin as pen-holders, to him she is supreme, and while ho adores her ho is young.

Space limits forbid any detailed reference to the long gallery of vigorously drawn character sketches to be found in Mr. Merrick's novels and stories. He is specially at home and pre-eminently successful in depicting theatrical and journalistic life, and Ins pictures of tho provincial stage in "Conrad," and several other of his books, aro unforgettable. --No_ other English novelist has ever given us more delightful peeps into tho Boheniisinism of tho Qtiartier Latin, or conveyed more successfully the peculiar fascination of Paris generally. Mr. Merrick's latest long story, "While Paris Laughed." has had,_l notice, exceptionally good reviews in both English and American papers. The collected edition now beina: published will include all Mr. Merrick's short stories, as well as his long novels. Tho volumes can ho purchased separately. The format of tho new edition is very agreeable to the eye, tho books heing printed in a fine large type_ on specially good paper, and the binding is quietly and ' appropriately tasteful. . A sot of Mr. Merrick's books, m one's book-shelves would he apermaneiit and pleasant safeguard against ennui.

Stray Leaves, This is a "fiction week" for "Liber's" readers. Next week I hopo to give a review of tho second volume of that important work "ThoCrimo."

"Tho Times" Literary Supplement warmly commends a book descriptive of AYcst 'Country life, "Small Talk at AVreyland," by' Cedl Torr. It seems to bo an agreeable compound of Cornish and Devonian folk-lore, family history, sporting ■ stories, and : genoral anecdotes. The author give's a .curious .account of an amiable eccentric, Parson Davy, of Morcton, Drewsteignton, and Lusleigh. This cleric, ho tells us, wroto and printed with liis own hands a vast "Svstem of Divinity," which fills three feet eight inches, of the author's bookshelves, and "planted texts and Ins own namo in box in his garden at AVilmead." Good old Parfion Davy was a mighty drinker of cider, and a determined enemy to lea-drinking. _ Concorning the latter ho writes, in tho monumental' work abovo alluded to, of "the immeasurable uso of that too fashionable and pernicious plant, which weakens tho-stomach, unbracos tho nerves, and drains' the .very vitals of our national wealth." A contempt for tea was quite common amongst the Yorkshire farmers of "Liber's" youth. Tho present writer can well remember his grandfather, then a halo old fellow of 86, drinking his two big "mugs o' yell" (home-brewed ale) with Ins breakfast of fat bacon, and oponly deriding the tea,'drunk, only:by the womenfolk elf the farm, as being "mere catlap." Other times other maimers! I question very much if hpmc-brewed alp is ever seen on a Yorkshire farmer's breakfast table in these days. But on that same "yell" and fat bacon they undoubtedly built somo very fine men. ■

Shorty M'.Cabo' .returns to _ his old admirers'in a new volume by his clever creator, Sewell Ford, entitled "Shorty M'Cabe Looks 'Em Over." A.iieircomor is introduced in the stories of the' es-prize fighter and physical cultnrist. . "ThU is "Little Sully," Shorty's son and heir. Tho new stories, (there are twenty-one in all) aro said to be just as amusing as thoso in which tho inimitable Shorty's earlier experiences were related.

Before even Florence Nightingale there was a famous English nurse who devoted herself to-the English soldier. This was one Elizabeth Alkin, known in her own day as. "Parliament. Joan." and who well deserves to be called "The Florenco Nightingale of the Seventeenth Century. In the July number of the "United Service Magazino" thoro:is an exceedingly interesting article on Mrs. Alkin, most of whose life was spent in nursing the sick and wounded—both Cavalier and Roundhead—ill the time of the Civil AVars, and sho was especially active in her mission of mercy during tho war with Holland in 1652. Her appeals for tho payment of sums which she had paid out of her slender purse iu caring for the wounded soldiers and sailors' arc exceedingly pathetic; and there can be little doubt'that hev'seff-sacrificing efforts to relievo distress were rewarded with poverty and a nameless grave.