NOTICES OF BOOKS.

Evening Star, Issue 4242, 30 September 1876, Page 4

NOTICES OF BOOKS.

jtfwfc I/tYraine, a tele of the South.Downs | by It, D. Blackmore, author of Lorna Doone. Sampßon, Law, and Co., London ; Reith and Wilkie, Dunedin. There are few lovers of works of fiction who have not read " Lorna Doone." One charm of that work is that it introduces us to a state of society once a reality in our native country, but long since Butted away. The reader sees in each page fh« germ of ideas and customs developed •ad refined in the present day. He 6an contrast his own social security with the condition of his ancestors, whose everyday life had been rendered uneasy and perilous through the barbarising effects of civil wsr. When such graphic pictures are presented to the mind, their truthfulness be- ] comes apparent, especially to those who k»ve acquainted themselves with the curwnt histories of the times. V-: ith their assistance history itself acquires inpressed interest. Events which pretioiTßly seemed isolated or abnormal, com- ■ Mad themselves as the natnr 1 outgrowth of circumstances. Works of imagination, like S9ed pictures, teach us of the past. In the erelopment of his plots, Mr Blackmore tiiket care that his agents do no violence to fiheir characters, and thus we are led inseneibly to form more correct ideas of modes of thought, expression, and action than were entertainsd previously. This is precisely the case with " Alice Lorraine." " Lorna Doone " takes its readers back two centuries;

** Alice Lorraine" introduces us to the imen and women of sixty years ago. Sixty years seems a short period. Many now living can recollect being told of the circumstances so graphically interwoven with the story, and can recognise the truthfulness of the descriptions by the CMOonnta given at the time. It is scarcely credible that so vast a moral and intellectual advance could have taken place as has reiolted from the political changes of that period. We still have the rema'ns of feudalism among us ; we have brought a few of it* fetters with us from Horns ; but in " Alice Lorraine" we learn how thev burdened the higher classes of th:it period, and what barriers thty have ever interposed to a true amalgamation of society. The Norman conquest set a mark upon English society that will not be erased for centurU.s to come. We give no description of the pint. The very charm of a novel is mystery. The j •rer-fastidioua might find fault with some of the doings of the leading characters, but a novelist would do violence to truth were lie te draw a picture of a perfect human being, were he even able to conceive one. Mr Blackmore cannot be charged with what many consider the sin of the day, of clothing riee so attractively aa to appear virtue. His rascals are men with men's feelings, and kw women are models of purity and highmindedness. Even their failings arise from over sensitiveness, tinged with superstition. His powers of description aro of a high order. He is a lover and close obterver of Nature, and those who can realise the scenery he descriDes will feel pleasure in dwelling upon his landscapes aud bringing them vividly before the eye of the mind.

The Thrt* Feathers. By William Black. Sampson, Law, and Co., London ; Keith and Wilkic, Dunedin. Mr Black is a pleasant write? and has produced a pleasing novel. Moreovi r, it is, im. tomt respects, a novelty. The title given to bis work affords no clue to the story, ex* wpt that tbey, with the motto "Ich LMen,'' are the heraldic device for the county of Cornwall. It is a Cornish Bfeory telling of tt*« influence of a self sacrificing girl and of the perplexities into which a thoroughly conscientious person may be involved through ignorance of self and of the requirements of human duty. It goes further. Presenting a picture of true goodness and unwearied effort to benefit a neighborhood, it traces the effect upon the mind of an illtrained but generous youth. Many a lady would call the heroine "a very amiablo goose," as some have done who would in all probability have fallen into similar errors under like circumstances. Wo have often observed that a mistaken sense of duty in amiable and rel'gions people has beeen productive of as intense misery, although not so enduring, as the commission of a positive crime. I'robably even it may be more severely felt by them than by a criminal. "Tho Three Feathers" points to this fact, and may t>e read with great advantage by many of those lovable enthusiasts, of whom our Churches ought to be proud, who do so much for others and expect so little for themselves as to forget that their passions and affections are trusts to be wisely used for their own and others'" happiness. Let them realise this and they will hold them to be too sacred to be crushed and regarded as if they were evils to 1-e mourned over and despised. This truth seems to be Mr Black's aim, and ho has worked it out in a rery able style.