The times., 1899-03-05

the only thing the lieutenant had taken
was punch the said drink supposed to have
been compounded Of some sort OF fearful
and wonderful ingredients. arrack an!
Chinese whisky among them. The guilt
OF the lieutenant was quite firmly estab-
lished when the maker of the punch tes-
titled that ii was made of lemon. pine
apple, burnt sugar, mint. and water. The
accused smiled serenely, and his assail-
ants were nightly discomfited.
These are fair examples of the stories
contained in the book. The author writes
from experience, having been himself an
officer in the regular army. New York:
Harper & Bros. s125)
John Jasper's Secret" is in some re-
spects a unique book. 1t is seldom that
a work left unfinished on the death of
great author is completed by anyone. es
pecially if it be a novel; since the person.
aIity of the novelist enters so largely into
the composition of his book that no one
not endowed with his peculiar nature can
hope to complete the outline or continue
the story left by him in fragments. But
this is what has been attempted in John
Jasper's Secret" 1t is a sequel to THE
Mystery of Edwin Drood," the enigma
which Dickens left for his readers, and it
is written by Charles Dickens, jr., and
Wilkie Collins. After nearly thirty years
of a fragmentary stage of existence, Ed
win Brood is now completed-after
fashion. The authors state in their pre-
face that some materials in the shape of
very slight written data, and some hints
in the work itself were discovered by
them, and that they have endeavored as
far as possible to carry out the original
intention of the author. They frankly a1-
init hat thnty hA,, l,;-
marvellous character drawing, or fill the
conversations with the wit and pa.hos
familiar to us in the works of the great
master; they have not even consciously
attempted to give close imitation of the
style of Dickens, though some approach
to this was inevitable after months of
study of his work. The preface concludes
with suggestion that if the authors have
not done their work very well, they think
they have done it better than certain
American writers who have attempted the
same task.
Whatever the merit of the book may be
and it is impossible here to give full
outline of the plot, which is its only i'm
portant point-there is no doubt that it
VIII have its value as a part of the litera-
ture relating to Dickens, and that is prac-
lcally all the career possible to it. The
world has had but one Dickens, and most
of his readers do not care for a restora-
ton of the fragments of his work. more
than lover of art would delight in a
restoration of an old Greek fragment
by some modern sculptor. New York:
r. F, Fenno & Co. sl.5O.)
IAN Hungarian Nabob," by Maurus
Jokai, is not new book in the sense of
being recently written. 1t is already a
classic in Hungary. having appeared nearly
fifty years ago. The translation, however,
Is very recent one, and has been made
by R. Nisbet Balm. who has already rem
dered several of the great Magyar's novels
into English. In this, as in some of his
subsequent work, he has taken the liberty
of cutting down the book to q considerable
extent, in order to make the book more
acceptable to English and American read
ers, and it would appear from the result
that this course was wise. Mr. Balm tells
us that the story as originally written suf-
fered from an excess of episode, and it is
certainly crammed with incident even in
its condensed form. The pruning was un-
doubtedly iudicous.
Compared with other works of the Hun
garian novelist previously translated into
English, this book has more humor and
less barbaric savagery than some of the
other novels of Jokai. 1t is rapid in its
and fascinating throughout. New York:
Doubleday & Mcclure Company. s1.25)
Rachel" by Jane Helen Findlater, is
the story of n modern prophet and seer,
Michael Fletcher by name. The hero is
rather shadowy figure, though here and
there he emerges into something like Or
dinary humanity. There is an excellent
bit OF character drawing in the prim and
narrow Ellen, who. with her mother. Up
pears in the first few chapters as Michael's
landlady. and there is a vivid description
of a fortune telling scene in which the seer
figured. The heroine, Rachel. is rather a
contradictory character, though she is fair
ly well drawn and very human in her ways
and moods. The Foreseers, a sect whose
leader Michael becomes. are an outgrowth
Of some Of the tendencies of modern
thought in the direction of freedom and
away from established forms. New York:
Doubleday G. Mcclure Company. sl25.)
LITERARY NOTES.