Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1918-03-30
FOREIGN POLICY OF PRESIDENT WILSON REVIEWED.
REINCARNATIONO OF
A STUART PRINCESS
Mrs. Napean Sets Forth a
Novel Claim for Considera-
tion for Her Novel

II was Sir Walter Raleigh living and
dying something Hike n century before
the day Of the Merry Monarch" so
called. who told his contemporaries in
one OF his writings that history hath
triumphcd over time which besides it
nothing but eternity hath triumphed
over II Sir Walter had postponed his
mundane soiourn until. say, the period
OF the stuart Restoration, he might have
qualified his remark. for then doubt
less lie would have come into contact
with lady who by her own declaration
In the preface OF hor book. MY Two
Kings" has outwittcd old Chrouos him
self BY reappeariug In this year Of grace
l9lS and seriously uarratins in the
form OF historical novel her memoirs
or seventeenth century events. all Of
which she saw and part of which she
was in the reign VI Charles II, iuclud-
ing the disastrous attempts of tho lat
ter's nl-starrcd son, james Duke of
Monmouth, 10 mount n throne denied him
by reason Of hts 'lcft-hauded" birth.
Il is n curious piece Of writing which
Mrs. Evan Napean has evolved from
what she soborly informs her readers 10
her inner consciousness Of u past buried
by the dust OF nearly two and n half
centuries The novelist processes to
A'NN t'-edNN b4'pu III ll'l Ntillst t'lll W
have actually lived from 1874 to 1856
at the court OF Charles II, whom she
designates as cousin" throughout the
pages Of hcr unusual narrative. Appar-
entity sho IL firmly convinced that rs
Charlotte stuart" she was on terms or
the greatest but withal discreet intimacy
with that monarch and his son, who in
tho closing chapters Of her story shc
calls "kinE Monmouth"
The idea of rclncarnation IS as old
as recorded time, and its cult Is by no
means confined to the mysterious East.
as is evidenced by the candor with which
Mrs. Napean assures her readers that in
relating her experiences as an intimate
associate Of King Charles II ana his
court. including Ncll Gwynn. for whom
she had genuine feminine affection,
she Is simply making use Of hereditary
memory, having shrewdly left "somc Of
the doors open behind her" when her
former existence came to its natural
period. There iS not much politics in
Mrs. Napean's historical romance, which
deals almost exclusively with the do
mestiC and personal side Of the lives of
, her two kings," Charles and Monmouth.
/ She shows herself an earnest and admir-
/ ing champion Of those royal individuals,
whose characters have been less kindly
treated by callous historians. lacking
! the sympathy Of kinship to guide their
delincations. While not glossing per-
soual faiiings. the "reincarnated'' au-
thor gives unique Interpretation Of
/ Charles II by representing him as n
wiser. clevercr and altogether much
more capable monarch than he is gem
orally portrayed in history OF the dry
as.duet sort. and one who wore his mask
Of devotion TO pleasure for no other
reason than to keep 4 firm hold on his
throne and escape the fate OF his father
| and the fate which befell his son at the
hands Of his impacable uncle. James IL.
The central love theme OF the story is
! the affair between the Duke of Mon
mouth and Henrietta Wentworth, the
only woman the luckless prince ever
! really loved. Whatever worth az his
tory Mrs. Napean's romance OF the
stuart Restoration may have. there Is
no doubt that It possesses n certain
value as an incentive TO a study OF
events Of the past. which Is always an
! instructive mental process.
MY TWO KINGS. A Novel of the Stuart
( Restora ton, By Mrs. Evan Nefesn, Illus
tratef with portraits, New York: +. T..
! Dutton & Co, 81. 80.