The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1904-12-02
NEWS OF THE BOOK WORLD
THE UNEASY CHAIR

PhiIanderings of MGood Queen Bess":
the courtshlps OF England's Great Queen,
as Narrated by Martin Hume.-Excep-
tional facilities for getting at Queen Eliza
beths true character have been at the
disposal of Martin Hume. It has been
his duty to consider carefully, in chrono-
logical order, formidable mass of Dip
lomat1c documents Of the time Of Eliza
beth. lin which are reflected almost from
day to day, the continually shifting as
poets OF political affairs, and the ever
changing attitudes Of the queen and her
ministers in dealing with them There
fore, the new edition Of his The Court
ships of Queen Elizabeth, to which have
been added two chapters bearing ON ''the
question of the actual relations that ex-
listed between the queen and various IA
vorites, - has an especial claim to the
attention of readers of history.
While Mr.. Hume makes it clear that
Elizabeth was playing a great diplomatic
game-'the greatest diplomatic game ever
played on the worlds chessboard, he
calls it-and that the negotiations for her
hand entered into the game he also shows
that in her attention to those negotiations
the queen went beyond decorous limits,
even for her own day. Indeed, from Mr..
Hume's account, it is not to be wondered
at that the queens conduct quite scan
dalized many people Of that time. He
writes: F.2 ?. .- -
It may, think, be accepted, on close con-
sideration of the whole of the facts and CORE
spondence that Elizabeth's relations with Allen
con, and his envoy, whilst they extended to an
amount of familiarity that would be considered
indecorous even in those days. were mainly
prompted and maintained to satisfy the over
weening personal vanity of the queen and that
they stopped short of actual immortality.
Mr.. Hume says elsewhere that "the
handspring of Elizabeth's love affairs was
her personal vanity" Still elsewhere he
speaks of her mania for exciting the
admiration of men," It would appear
from Mr.. Humes account too, that
much of the queens flirting was purely
from a "greed of flattery" 49,.
All in all, therefore, the picture of the
queen, who did so much to- forward the
greatness of England, is far from being
wholly pleasing. It is to the credit of the
! author, however, that he treats the sub
ject fearlessly stating the case frankly,
Eyet with delicacy, and defending the char
lsaeter of the queen with much sound rea-
! soning. The book as enlarged in this new
edition is a valuable addition to the his
tory of Elizabeth's time. -.
Mcclure Phillips & Co., New York.
! berry Finn and "Tom Sawyer" have been
placed under the ban in the Juvenile de-
! partment of the Des Moines Uowa) pub
lie library, because they are too strenu-
GUS and work a wrong influence on read
| ers. :
Improved and .Unimproved Proverbs
Lisle de Vaux Matthewman calls then
Completed Proverbs. You may judge fol
yourself whether they are completed, i'm.
proved or unimproved from the following
samples: .-...
-"All true love is grounded on esteem,' but
esteem often rests upon no foundation.
" 1sHe who sings drives away sorrow,'' but often
| causes sorrow to his neighbors -.
H'Man proposes" when woman permits.
"An obedient wife commands her husband" II
she takes care not to let him know it.
f. These changed proverbs are all pic.
tured In dainty pen and ink drawings ir
SUCH a way as to lend greatly to thei,
pith and point.
l. Henry 7. Coates & Co., Philadelphia. 80
I 49, cents net.
/ A Book Of Charades.-Florence L. Sab
Ter has gathered together a series O.
clever charades in Captain Kidd ant
Other. Charades. A foreword gives SOM
4 account Of the history of charades which
lends interest to the book
Il Robert Grier Cooke, New York. 20
! A Rookatzed Drama.-Babes in. Toy
land tells by. its 1904 copyright that it re
verses, the popular modern process Of dra
7 sTnatfzatfon It s. about time that Til
stage did something for pure literature
anyway, and this book, following grea
!, dramatic spectacle Of a year ago, lis
good beginning. In simple language. Glen:
, McDonough and Anna Alice, Chaplin tel
the adventures of Jane and Alan. It /
Pa high grade fairy story of genuinely juve
> Enile type, with q boy and girl for her
and heroine, a cross old Uncle Barnaby
a bag of gold, fairies, witches, villains
3 animated toys, Santa Claus and a happ
Il ending. With this list of properties tn
4 story couldn't help moving. Jane an
Alan, orphans, are sent supposedly t
death in an enchanted forest. They per
form a kindness for moth who turn
out to be the enchanted queen Of tn
fairies and helps them. She sends ther
on their way conveyed by Fuzzy, a littl
: bear, and the three come to a town wher
the people are perfectly horrid." Take
with it, they cheerfully admit the i'm
: parchment, for the place is Mean Tow1
This is a sample of the unique style an
quaintness of the story which carries Ala
and Jane safely out Of Mean Town an
accidentally into Toyland, where the
make new friends and finally meet the1
: old neighbors and return to mortal habi
: tation to live happily ever after. So niue
for the Babes as a stOrybOok
AS a picture book, the work introduce
novelty in the form of seven full-pagt
rich color prints of grade-both as
raughtsmanship and color-good enoug
for framing There are also nunlerou
black and white Illustrations, chapte
headings, tailpieces and capitals in deco
rative design which are exquisite bits {
Juvenile illustration. Ethel Franklin Bett.
to whom this part of the book was as
signed, has added a large share to tn
l interest which youngsters will inevitabl
I accord the work. -.
Fox, Duffeld & Co., New York. $3.50.
/ .