NEW BOOKS

New Zealand Tablet, 9 July 1908, Page 24

NEW BOOKS

We have received from the publishers (M. H. Gill and Son, Ltd., Dublin) a new edition of ' Harmonics,' by the Rev. s T. J. O'Mahony, D.D., D.C.L. We hud words of warm commendation for these high poetic flights of the learned All Hallows professor •on their first appearance a few years ago. new edition is an improvement on the old, in so far as it is enriched with a lengthy and singularly able appendix dealing with the Alleluia— the Divine Acclaim par excellence '—and the depths of significance which are contained therein. The sub-title describes the book as ' Wreaths -of Song from a Course of Divinity.' It is a sequel and companion" volume to the same distinguished professor's ' Wreaths of Song from Courses of Philosophy.' The wreaths are, so to speak, twined around treatises on the Unity and Trinity of God, and hung in happy adornment about some of the festivals of the year. The type, paper, etc., are in the best style of the eminent Irish publishing firm. Messrs. Whitcombe and Tombs, Ltd. (Chrislchurch, Wellington, and Dunedin) have added to their lengthy and lengthening j list of publications a drama entitled ' Under the Shadow of I Dread.' The author, who modestly conceals his identity under i the initials R. T. H., goes back to the days of " King Alfred of the Danish wars for the subject of the drama, and produces a very readable and interesting five-act play, in which the clank of armor and the rui& of sword on shield are heard abundantly, and there are many moving incidents by flood and field. There is a fine ring about King Alfred's speech to his army in the third act, and there, is much dramatic force in the way in which the capture of the castle is achieved and the plot of the play brought to its denouement. The paper, letterpress, and binding leave nothing to be desired. (Pp. 104, demy Svo.). Messrs McDonald and Evans (4 Adam street, Adelphi, London, W.C.) have added an exceedingly interesting Life of Father Mathew'- to their favorably-known St. Nicholas Series of publications. The author of this work is the gifted Katharine Tynan Hinckbon, whose books are so well known among Catholic readers throughout the Knglibh-spcaking world. The distinguished writer tells in her best style the story of Father Mathew's childhood and youth, his studies and 'his years of missionary work, his labors in Kilkenny and in Cork and the poverty of the two-roomed 'Little Friary' in which he and Father Donovan toiled for souls in the City by the Lee. Among 9 other things told by the author in this connection was the ruse to winch the aged Father Donovan (who narrowly escaped the guillotine during the French Revolution) contrived to secure fohis young assistant (Father Mathew), on the day of the latter's first arrival in the Friary, the dinner which the straitened resources of the establishment could not afford. The story of the temperance movement loses nothing at the gifted hands of the writer of this latest life. 'Oh, Theobald Mathew' said the earnest Quaker to him, 'thee hast a mission from God to-do tins work!' 'Here goes, in the name of God!' said Father Mathew, and he signed his name, the first on the reg.ster of the Cork Temperance Society, 'Theobald Mathew No. 1. And then all that followed-the first gleanings of the harvest, the triumphal march of the temperance movement, its trials and difficulties;- the great famine, and the rest. How much there was packed into this one man's wonderful life! The boolw illustrated with a number of heliochrome engravings 't should be in every home and school and club library, and on every prize-list of our Catholic schools. (Pp. . 18 0, cloth gilt 2S