The times., 1901-04-28

epic that a pressed flower in a herba-
| rum, or dried insect on a pin. bears to
the living plant or butterfly. They have
interest only for the scientist. Mr.. Crock
EFT has made a fine novel ont OF good
folklore, and he is to be warmly congrat-
ulated on this somewhat rare achieve
ment.
The first chapter of The Silver Skull
is a fascination in itself, and the interest
never slackens from the first page to the
last. The priest appears at first in the
guise of the masker Punchinello, and the
heroine as a little child, who has crept
under the table in fear Of the strange fig
ure and thus escapes the death which is
dealt out to all other members of the
family Found in the courtyard of the
palace after the massacre, by the Varda-
relli, the little Isabella is taken under
their protection and grows up as their
sister and comrade. The rest of it is one
adventure after another. ending in the
advent of General Church and certain
young Highland officer who is the hero
so far as the love-interest is concerned.
Altogether, this book is perhaps the best
thing Mr. Crockett has done. 1t is now
published for the first time in this coun-
try, though written two or three years
ago. CNew York: Frederick a. Stokes
Company
AT the Court of the King" by G.
Hembert Westley, is a book of short
stories of the French Court mainly OF
the time of Louis XV. Among the titles
are THE Device of the King Ihe
ChevaIier of Mont-Chery," The Queen
etter," and The Dukes Sweetheart
Two or three of these would make
charming little One-act plays If the talent
of the author happened to run in that
direction. They are full of the light
gayety, the insouciance, and mischieVous
charm of the French aristocracy IN It's
flower The first story is essentially ara
matte. and so is THE Dukes sweet
heart" Most of them are pure COMEDY
but "The Priest of Languedoc' is pa
thetic little tale of hopeless love when
was a curse to the lover, ana Inc
Humbling Of Damp Abbot is grue-
some and not altogether intelligible story
of the vengeance of a disappointed ana
Jealous man "A Desperate Game deals
with the second advent of Napoleon and
the way in which the house of Roth
schild was saved from imminent financial
peril through a couriers fondness for
chess. Altogether, the stories are good
enough for anybody's spare moments
InOUSn very uHpftltiitlOuS' NA'O@'N0-A' -
C. Page & &C. H.5o)
Robert Annys, Poor Priest" by Annie
Nathan Meyer, is, as the subtitle eX-
plains, a tale of the Great Uprising. Rob
ert Annys is one of those followers OF
John Wyclif who were sent through Eng
land to preach to the plain people and
oppose the simple teaching of the gospels
to the pomp and power of the visible
Church The story begins well, and is
full of pictures OF the life of the times
Robert Annys is one of the sensitive,
idealistic, yet strongly sympathetic
dreamers. who have been both the de-
spair and the pride Of every reform
party-men whose quick perception OF
truth and power of language make them
easy converts, but whose keen sense OF
Justice and love of all beauty and fine
ness make them shrink, in spite OF
themselves, from many phases Of the re-
former pure and simple. The Bishop OF
Ely also figures in the story, and is de-
scribed very skillfully, the more so per-
hans. that the Episcopal type does not
change much from generation to genera
ton, and the Bishop of the time of Wyclif
was probably the same in many respects
as the Bishop Of today. A strong contrast
= >
member of the Brotherhood of Poor
Priests, and there is a girl, Rose Westei
born of a peasant mother and lordly
father. with all the richness and fineness
of nature which come of such mixture
of blood who is one of the most human
characters in the story. The interest
does not however, hold out quite so well
as it promises, and after being prepared,
by all the logic of things, to see the
martyrdom of Annys, one somehow feels
II a step downward for him to become
a respectable and reasonably comfortable
member of society. (New York: The Mac
milan Company. N.50)
If ii be permissible to make a comment
which is not solemn upon a serious mat
ter. let the suggestion be made that it is
about time that Mrs. Elizabeth Stuart
Phelps Ward and Mr.. Herbert D. Ward,
her husband, stop writing resurrection
novels 1t is impossible TO dissociate the
two writers In this matter, since before
her marriage Mrs. Ward had already
made a reputation in this line, and since
the marriage Mr.. Ward who never be
fore was particularly heard of in any
thing, has been endeayoring TO do things
of the same general character. If they
do not realize the fact that it is time to
quit they should be told
Gates Ajar" which made a stir In its
time. is the only one of the collection
which deserves to live. Beyond the
Gates" THE Gates Between The Mas
ter of the Magicians," and all the other
minor and major works which have been
accomplished by the twain separately or
together, are simply very feeble echoes
of the original notion, with the human
nature left out, and it is to be hoped that
even in heaven we shall not be obliged
10 listen to endless variations and repeti
tions of one melodic phrase. And now
here comes Mr Herbert d. Ward with
'sThe Light of the World which is sup
posed to be a record of the confusion of
man of science on discovering that there
is such "A place as heaven after ali. Again
let il be repeated, in the language of
Milwaukee, if necessary. that the novel
of heaven. of this particular variety, Is
ausgespielt.
We find in this small book the astrono-
mer and maker Of lenses, gazing with
pride which is quite pardonable upon
huge lens just finished, the work Of more
than two years, and saying something
about Elf there be a Cod" 1t appears
that in punishment for his blasphemy, or
pitv for his ignorance, or something, God
struck him dead The rest of the volume
is taken up with narrative of his ex-
nerIences in the other world. IT appears
that his imagination was 'reigiously
rudimental" Perhaps it was. If he had
had a religious imagination the size of
Mr. Wards IL is improbable that ne would