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BOOKS AND AUTHORS.

(By Liber.)

BOOKS OF THE DAY An Admiral's Recollections. , The biographies and autobiographies of iiiival men, when well written, usually liKiico very agrocablo reading, and Admiral Sir Cyprian Bridge's modestly enbook, "Some Hceolleotions" (John •Murray, per- Wliitcenibe and Tombs) is no exception to the general rule. The author, Who, it may be remembered, was coninuiniler-in-c.hiet on ' the Australian Station for some years in. . the later .'nineties of the. last century, entered the Koyal Navy as fur back as 1853. His first experiences of nnvui life were gained as a naval cadet 011 the Medea, a paddle-wheel steamer classed us a steam sloop. He first'Ciime to Australian waters in 1859, when, at twenty, ho was u midshipman on t'lie Pelorns, then coniliULiided. by GVtplain Beaiicham;) Seymoiir, afterwards Lord Alccster.' His lon pi and honourable naval career came to a clc;e in 1905, when he rSlinrjiiislicd his command of the China Station, but even as lale as IDIG he found useful public work to do, lioiii;? appointed a member of the Commission appointed to inquiro into the conduct of the . campaign in. AlesopOtnniia. •

A.specially 'interesting feature of Admiral Bridge's book is .the ihsight'it affords. into the life of a unval officcr during successive periods of .mndeni naval history. When lie j'oined the Navy the duties and powers of an officer were based upon the traditions'of the Nelson days, ..The.pay was much, lower than to-day,, and the conditions of service ■wore much luirdeiv • Officers had to pro--•vide, practically tho. whole of their personal equipment, and were'put to'heavy expenses which tlieir successors of today are happily spared. Even the surgeons: had to provide their own' surgical instruments, and the carpenter's crew their'tools, although'it is true these latter were paid a-penny a'day as "(00l allowance".!;" The captain decided, what uniforms were to be worn and when, as not infrequently occurred,'., his views 011' matters sartorial were, somewhat eccentric, the effect produced was more grotesque .than- dignified.-. As- to discipline it wjis' generally very rigid, and 111 the .'case.(if the men aiid boys'corporal, pun:'islnneni:'was greatly- favoured. - The nu- • tlior's ■ fii-st captain rivalled Gilbert's famous Captain. Ueeee, cf the. Mi'miel- ' piece, "iii his consideration ror :his. f-ea-men, fc: - never -would he' have one of them (legged. and he never--110, never!— used t 1 !"!:. big. D— —referred to so amusingly 'ih.IT.ALS. Finafore: But the ship's boys lie. look a special delight in caning, and his fertility-in pretexts for [ such punishment- was unbounded. •

The boys (siys the author) lie ordered to 1 1)2 caneu-every mnniiiig, usually: mming „ something that may have seemed' to hint S a reason in ejicli. ease.' Once I wan. present t at, tho'following scene: All the Ijovh but 1 one ha<t, on- aomo pretext, Itpeii caued. 0 When; the. c.aptuiii eaiiie to tile last hoy he evidently could not eonooci a reason , for liiin called, olid he began to ; explain .wily, for once, the bov was to go l'ree.' -Unhappily for ' himself, this liov, .not.quite understanding .the situation, hc.Ban, us'"usual, to . malic excuse, fiayinr' i "l'lease, sir.—llefore he coukt gel any iurther' tho captain found, what lie \ .walked . lie interrupted promptly, sav- , ing, '"If you. hadn't 'said •l'lease;' sir.'" 1 ' shonlilli't have ordered you to lie caned, t yinp s 'corporal, give him sixl" And six .lie -received, being .sent away blubbering. , '..This same' captain; ,wiio,. by tho way, s "even at sea, and in rough; we'at.ier, generally' wore.'a well'-iiiade frock, coat < with n- velvet.collar" was •eventually t tried by court-martial, ami reiuuvcil ~ from-his cpniniand lor tyranny, .lie ac- , uinily. kept. tho chief ingineer of his J ship-in ,close, confinement 'for weeks in Jlis ciibiii, J-i'fcet- by Gi'- feet, in. the holiest. West. Indian season. And this .because' the unlucky, ollicer "in speaking toliini lvad kept his "hands on iiis jtips! : ' * ■' in-successive 'chapters Admiral' linden describes'his service, tin ■the .'West In- * (linti and South American stations, and with squadrons in the Bust Indies, Hie 1 Ohannql and the .Meditcrranmi. in 1881 assumed command r.f 11.A1.5. ]•>•. 1 picgle,, and eventually arrived at -'Mint ' lovriiest'of. all nnchbrageiS-Vnviil Cove, .! .Sydney. The.author proceeds 'to <jiv (; a i • n ; ;iailed,.and ' most interesting account 'A ' the Espiegle's ninny cruises in the ,South ! Seas, tlnrii f which he acted as a' deputy * commissioner lihiler the High Commissioner for the Hoiith-West Pac-Hic. jie i has much, to say of the various groups ; and.iiativti ineos, mid indeed tlis section I of his book iVexceptionally readable .ind valuable. He first visited' New Zealand c 'lii 1883. beiiig personally' and specially ; in teres te.d' in. this .country owing to hi's | fathers first cousin'and his own name- i .sakg, Colonel Cyprian . Bridge having ■commanded one of tho first British re»imonts stationed in'tho Bpminion He i writes in terms of high appreciation of the natural wonders and beauties, tlic , flourishing cit'.cs, the genial climate, and fjond qualities of .the people of New Zealand, of which lie lias still, in • his old age, 'very kindly and pleasant memories. ! In 1886 Captain Bridge'was appointed 1 to the | command" of the Colossus, tho nrst. ship in commission to bo armed jvitli 12-uioh breech-loading guns, ami tho- 1 hrst ship in the Navy to. be lighted ' throughout with • thfc electric light. It it to 110H that ilie present 1 r 3 l ICOe was )0 £ l umo?y liouten}iut of the Colossus, oil one occasion jumping overboard and gallantly saving ' tho life of a bluejacket who had fallen into the sea from a boat. , , After three years' command <if tho Colossus, two- years being spent in , the j> led it or ni ii ph ii . our authnr was inmoint"d to command the Australian station, and I'orM bis (la;.' on Mic Orlando. Visits to China and other Eastern ports are described .in the final chapter, tho author retiring from the Navy (though not, us I liavo stnted above, from all official employment) in 1005. . ..übiiral Bridge's J'onk. u'liipl, is an »vc»i>|;i„nal]y intniv.sting and valuable addition to naval literature, .contains several "xcellent portraits of the author at vari&is ages. (Price las.) "Christophor." . Jt's only when we read such T)oolc= as Christopher'. A Kludy in Tinman Personality,"- by Sir Oliver Lodge (Cassell and Co.. per S. -and W! Mackay), that wo grasp what a lieavv 101 l the Great unr has laid upon the best stock of 'English youth, young men clearly destined by hereditary, education, environment, and well marked intellectual powers, to dlj.iv prominent parts in the future of their country. Chrirtonher Coombe 'pennant, whose career at school and university, at Sandhurst and at the front, Sir Oliver Ledge here sets forth iri such ■ interesting detail, was a vouP" Englishman, of a singularly delicate temperament, and much personal charm. Welsh ,bv birth, he was a son of wealthy parents, both richly endowed with iutd'ncMini gifts, and a grandson of the Sirs. Tonnnnt. in whose London salon in mid and later Victorian days, com-re-, gated such celebrities as Gladstone, Bright, liuskin, Huxley, Spencer, Watts find Hurni! .Tones. One of his aiints was the Miss Dorothy- Tonnnnt who married 11. M. Mauley, of African exploration fame: afiotlier became the wife of Frederic Myers, whoso famous work, "Human Life, and Personality," played so great a part in stimulating psychical ' research. He had a hap'pv c'lildliood, and gave early promise of possessing a' line literary taste find a thoughtful ontlrok on .life. Sir. Oliver Udge sketches hip school career first at a private school and afterwards at Winchester, incidentally, but with emphasis, malum; it clear that the English public school system does not suit every boy. At Winchester young Tennnntwas never very happy. The exaggerated prominence given io sport, the survival of ancient rules and customs almost grotesquely out of (ouch with Iho modern spirit, do not (it in with such temperaments as lliat of Christo--phcr Tennant. There was no such open ■ revolt as in the case of the hero of Alee Waugh'.s "Loom of Youth," but the Winchester life was evidently uncongenial, and Sit Oliver Lodge's analysis of..the defects of the English public school system is, though there .is much to ho said on the other side, well worthy

Give a man a pipt ht can smoke, Give a man a book he can read; And his home is bright with d calm delight Though the room be poor indeed. —James Tdomsos.

"Flower 0' the Lily."

of attention. Though never, as I hnvo sitid, an actual rebel (as well ho might havo been, for he was ninth in direct descent from Oliver Crom.vell) against tiio established order of things in an English public school, it is clear, i he welcomed the change to Sandhurst. All the same his life at Winchester gave him; so his mother tells us in the brief memoir she contributes to the book, "a 'sturdinoss of character and an independence of outlook which prevented him from drifting, and tho experience was 110. doubt, wholesome." lie entered at Trinity College, Cambridge, but the war came, and .although "the whole husiof war appeared to him to bu as wearisome as it was horrible, lie at onco responded to the call, and after a period of training at Sandhurst and at T;uiworlh, in Surrey, went to tho front ns a second lieutenant in tho Guards in August', 1917. Alas, in less than a month he had mado tho siipromo sacrifice, being killed toy a-. shell on Keptomb°r 2, 101/. having, during tho all too short period lie had hec-n entrusted 'with the leading of his men against tho enemy, exhibited a eool but never failing courage which won hint the deepest rcspeet of his comrades, just as his sunny spirit, his solf-.°aoriHcing devotion to the welfare and comfort' of those under lum bad gained him their equally deep affection. As one l'oails tho brief record of the military service of this and other gallant voung l'lnglish lads, in physique and intellect the very salt and savoi:ir of their country, the. lines, of Lawrence Binyon's noble poem, "For. the I'allon, are irresistibly-'recalled As the stiu'B that chall ho bright when wc are dust; _ , Moyinp'in inarches upon Ine heavenly plains- • . .. 1 As the r.tars thai are starry in tlio time of our darkness, ' To Uie cud, to the end, they remain, The book includes a hi'ief memoir by Mrs. 'Pennant,. ah. autobiographical iragment,. and - a sel K'tion of representative ■letters,' these .latter showing the _iini> youiig Hngliahmnn.: v.ho-o promising oaveer was so suddenly and cruelly ended near the Flemish village of Poperinglie, to have besn pisscshcd of- literary tastes and intellectual gifts far above lbs-■ average. In the introduction, "Youth -and the 'War," Sir Oliver Lodge again : puts for-ward his belief- in that | future,.existence,..as.to. the possibilities of which and the intimacy of its connec-tion-with our life, on earth -he wrote in hi? "Kuymond, or Life After Death." 01 those of the' "gallant .company" who havo fallen -in the -war lie says.:— For them all is gain; anil even for us tlio gain will ultimately , outweigh the loss. For -\ve have not really lost them; they feel themselves to be- nearer to lis til a a before; death is no' estrangement, it has been felt, by many as ; a. kind of reunion. Body sepnrates; spirit mutes. I These are statements baßctl oil' evidenco, -though the evidence must.be sought elsewhere; what is said here is'the expression oI .!i convict ion which has come to many. And one tiling we know: aaei'ifiee is the necessary 'prelude' to-' the- attainment of any higli aim. And again v It is only fair if we, comparatively useless survivors, loiterers it (may he ou a stage whence we must soon depart, should seek to realise and represent-something of what the cloud of. vanished, youth has felt, something of .wliat.niuid happier sur-' rouudings ii will''continue to. feel, sometiling ot'. w.hich may yet, arise a-period of keener-and.-wii-er and more beneficent activity for man. A photogravure portrait'of Hid subject of the meinoii' servis as u I'rooti-piece to a voluiue ivhicli contains much Unit,is ■permanently valuable in . iU thouglfil-. provoking passages oil education and litis generally. ... . LIBER'S. NOTE BOOK I , have received a copy, of Air.'Hugh Walpole's latest story, "The .Secret City," which deals with an Englishman's fife in I'l'trograd during the revolution Tlio book will In reviewed in duo course. -Air. Kdward Tregenr'* poetic gilts have long been knowii .and appreciated by a litlie group of personal iriends. 1 am glail lo sec That Air. "t'regear has coilcclcd il mimlj.-M' oi ins puem.V iiniler the title ".••iiai.uws and.otlu-r Ver.si-i'' 'itfliitcomuo niui i oniljfJ. review vul app.ar. liexi

.-i. ~li\ Ci;ar',cs X. Sclnvali, who, i fancy, 1 is tno'lamous."stcsl kii.g,'' w.iom 1 once \ cry , uui.siu,.y 1,, ~ mtiubslaix ai !U'.. • ,1,01-k- tnu i.'.iile a j;ccu-laeid 1 ucuraic lawyer was uicliling hint as to certain financial' transactions which the Slate Auuney-lleiu-ral hcui 10 have oi nuniuiis Kguuty, has. written a Ijook entitled ".luceeeding. \vilu What You llave." What Air. belnvab has runs, i' ui'.icve, into a good many millions. it is so e.isy, so very easy, lor wealthy people to lay down the hnv of "getting on. ' .tint to follow t'lieir advice is not always so easy. The late John lay lie's excellent English i translations of "our bad, -mail, sad, glad In-other," Jlaistre, I'Yancois Villon, ot whom Stevenson wrote so delightfully in, an essay entitled "Francois Villon, Student, .t'oet,, and- Housebreaker," and whom lie introduced in-that little gem of - a.. story, "The Sieur de .Vlaletroit's iloor," have long been unobtainable save ill a very costly form. They are now, however, being republished in the Modern Library, a handy-sized and very tastefully produced series cd' reprints, published by a .Now York firm, Messrs. Uoni and LivcThe pricc is about five shillings here,- To Air. I'ayne's translations have been added SwiuburneVversions of seven "of tlieso famous French medieval! -ballads. The February issue of that, to book* men. most invaluable magazine,. "The Ijookmnn" (Hodder and Stoiighlon), is a Jjuskin centenary . number. Air. George contributes a well-written articlo. on the great art critic and sociologist, and ;in excellent full-page photogravure portrait of ituskin is given as a supplement. Under the title of "Tho Wittiest Alan" in London, Air. Kit-hard Whiting reviews Air. Walter Jerrold's recently-published Irogrnphy of lli,s faincus grandfather, iJougl'.is' .Tcrrold. 1 hope to' make some. extracts from the nrlicle when space allows, but just now ''LiberV' study , table is crowded with new books, and reviews must take precedence of gossip. SOME RECENT FICTION. "His Second Wife." In his new story, "His Second Wife" (New York and Melbourne: The Alacniillan Co.), Air, Ernest Poole, who wrote thuso fine novels, "The Harbour" and "His Family." gives us a "cry. striking study in feminine psychology. ' A IS'ow York architect, a man whose personal artistic ambitions often clash with tho interests of purely moiit-y-nuiki-jig, .lnnrl'ies a woman who lives for dress and , amusement, and whose influence upon his artistic aspirations is negative and positively inimical. She dies, anil after a. while the ividowcr marries her sister, a woman of high ideals. At first the bushand, a cheery, good-hearted man, utterly fails, to understand his wife's real character, and influenced bv his memories of her sister's social aspirations, I throws himself franlically into purely commercial enterprises, will) the object j i of mn-liing a pile. Fortunately, his part- ! ncr, an excentioimlly well-drawn charaei tcr, nenel.riiles tho seeming mystery of I the second wife's attitude of detachment from tlve husband's ambitions and opera- . tions, anil the deadening materialism of , tho first wife being .at last perceived by . tho man to have .had an jvil influence .111)011 his professional work, a new and J wholesome sniritual affinity springs up [ between husband and wife. TMs is -i i novel of character more' tlian_ incident, , n subtl" and convincing- --'nd- Im i.- velm. logy. The two wives, with their strongI jv—-!ul l'li = t"rl w'snmilic!. "I'? drown 'v|i|j i a firm and sure hand, and in a secondary t degree, the figure of the husband is a . fine piece of literary fn its . own class, "tlis Second Wife" is one ; of tho most powerful, best-written stories i il: has been niy good fortune' to read for 1 some time past.

"Flower 0' the Lily," ft romance of old Ciunbrny (Hotlder and Stonghton), is one of those agreeable pastiches ot history and fiction in tho compounding of which Baroness -Orezy luis shown such skill. Tho author of "The Scarlet Pimpernel" 1 lias returned to her favourite seventeenth ; century period, takinE as her leading 1 motif tlio projected marriage of n nobly born and wealthy Flemish lady, Jaciiue-. line de Broyait, of Canibray—then part and parcel of the United Provinces—to "Monsieur," otherwise the Due d'Anjou, brother of Henry 111 of France. In tho. western provinces of the Netherlands a powerful party had come to the conclusion that Spanish, rule could only be overthrown by the help of France; hence tho olfer of the sovereignty to a French prince, who, tho most fickle (if the notoriously unreliable Yalois, proved himself quite unworthy of the choice. -As so often before the author has woven ( a marvellously tabled web of political intrigue, warlike adventures, and delight- , ful love-making, and once commenced, the new slory comiwllingly retains tho reader's interest. It is not, however, to the faithless Due d'Anjou that the fair ward of the ancient city of Canibray. gives her hand when the denouement of this skilfully constructed historical drama is reached, but to tho handsome young '■ soldier of fortune, Gilles de Crohin, "Sire de Froidmont," a character worthy of Stanley Weynian at his best, or even the great Alexandre Dumas himself. Baroness Orez.v's new romance is of special interest now that tho ancient city which is its main background has been freed from t.lic hateful presence of the barbarians whoso atrocities in the fair cities of Belgium surpassed as evil-doing 'even the foul deeds of Alva's Spaniards. The story, which is based very largely 11 lion historical facts set forth, in tho arcliives of Caiiibrai, is dedicated by the author to her soldier son, .Tolin Jfontague O-rczv Barslow, a lieutenant in'the Seventeenth Xancers. "The Fugitive Sleuthi M New York is tho. background of Mr. Hubert Footner's strikingly original and cleverly-written detective story, "Tho Fugitive Sleuth"- (Hodder and Stonghton). Tho story starts off with a highly sensational incident, namely, the, discovery by a struggling young artist of the.body of a murdered man in the. room of a young lady neighbour.. Convinced of the killer's 'innocence of the crime, the hero chivalrously embarks upon a quest .for tile real murderer. Unfortunately it is. he who lieconies the hunted, and with positively bewildering rapidity he. meets with a sue. cession of strange adventures. He is acta-' ally arrested, 011 another . but cleverly manages to lunke his escape, and later oil is in dire peril, through the mistaken vigilance.of an imaginative youth who would fain pln.v the - pnrl;_ of n juvenile Sherlock Holmes. . All this time, however, lie is/011 the-track of the. leal murderer. When, however, the. latter is-, unearthed, lie turns out to bo the husband of the young lady, and-a new and very baffling 'situation is created, Exactly how, although the murderer never faces the dread "olecl-ric chair," justice.: isdone, how-tho much-tried woman anrt - her faithful lover, the hniited-hunler. um made happy, it would lie unfair 16. "X'r. Footner to tell. A special feature of.'lho story is its rich vein of humour.. At times -there is a'certain approach to farcical comedy, but in fiction of this kind a few improbabilities, can well be forgiven when the story ns a whole lias snr-li a vim and sparkle as this exciting and very amusing yarn of Mr. Footne'r'.s; ."The Tale of Mr. Tubbs." Mr. Tublw, Hie chief figure -in Mrs. ,T. Buckrose's latest and most amusing story, "Tho Tale of Mr. Tubbs" (Hodder and. Stonghton), is. a retired leather merchant, whoso:life up to the age of forty-four has been singularly free fromanything in the shape of even the mildest form of adventure. He is an'unliable, ' quiet, simple-minded man (in everything outside the leather business), but he has a heart of pure gold and 1111 unconquerable sympathy for those in trouble /or distress, well earning his name (111 the secondary title,of the story)' of "A J\ night. Without; Armour." At the seaside resort of Clift'borough, easily identifiable - by all who know Yorkshire, an enterprising widow, n"' boardinghouse-keoper, very nearly entraps, him into marriage.' fn. sheer' despair he llirs from Clilfbormigb, only to be followed by all uncouth hut .warm-lioiirtcd "slavey,". Belinda, .wlio,witli her pet eat, "Clingy," plays a -.ory proniinent part in a prolonged nnd.vasti ly diverting comedy. The unwisely 1 chivalrous Tubbs finds himself involved in a long series of, com promising end , very awkward scenes, becoming for the sca'ndjil-loving inhabitants of Holmes Eaton, the village where he seeks refuge, I a "bold, bad man," a type utterly alien , b the true character 'of the retired , leather merchant. How; he is befriended ! by a very jolly; unconventional girl,' who, ' a* warliiiie' market gardener, is loved by a young man whose wealthy and snobbish parents promptly cat him off with the 1 proverbiul shilling; how lie plnys I lie good angel to the pair of lovers; of lis ' worries over the embarrassing . "Ber--1 Under," and of his own love story and of ' its fantastical progress hut happy ending 1 —all rhis 1 you can rend in Mrs. Buckrose 's lively and amusing story.

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Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 170, 12 April 1919, Page 11

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3,554

BOOKS AND AUTHORS. Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 170, 12 April 1919, Page 11

BOOKS AND AUTHORS. Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 170, 12 April 1919, Page 11

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