The sun., 1919-09-14
Mr.. Drummond's
"The Betrayers"


old and the empress 600" Well this en-
press was Doia Constanza, daughter OF
Frederick III. of Hohenstaufcn, an EN-
peror of Germany and much more be-
sides; who wrote the first verses in Ital-
ian, was the most ancient journalist of
history, the first that in the thirteenth cen
fury had dared to appeal to the judgment
of public opinion in his manifestos
against Rome; who. was Crusader and
had the distinction of being excommuni-
Gated again and again by the Pope and
was, in short, or so he was called "Stupor
Mundi," the wonder Of the world. As the
boys father, in the Ibafez story, used to
say, at must be admitted that he was a
great man.
This Frederick of Hohenstaufen ap-
pears in Hamilton Drummond's STORY
The Betrayers, although the object of the
youthful Ulysses admiration seems to
have been left out, to make way for
heroine called Beatrice, daughter Of the
Peter de Vinea, whom Dante put in his
Inferno, and who in Drummond's story is
pictured as the chief of the betrayers. But
as the Lady Beatrice said: of Peter Of
old had slain Judas TO prevent the Great
Betrayal, would it have been murderp
Whatever the ethics or whatever authentic
history, Fredericks threat is left unful-
filed in the story and the holy Innocent
is left in peace in Lyons.
The only fault to be found with Mr..
Drummonds story is the kind of story
it is. The great war has taken all the ro-
nance out Of the Historical romance" An
Empress 600 years old, in painted chest
nailed to a chapel wall, is still interesting
and doubtless always will be. But we
prefer to look back on her across six hun
bred years, than to be asked to bridge the
time and live again in imagination the
medieval days in which she moved A
page out of the Spanish novelist, sum-
moning the past, is more vivid than
whole novel directly dealing with the
epoch.
Everything in this story, then, hap
pened so long ago and SO much has hap
pened since that people will surely be for
given if their minds wander while they
read about Robert of Scissors, and they
will think of the pin in the great war map
that marked this town; and when they
read about Frederick of Hohenstau."cn
they will think of another Emperor of
Germany, Hohenzollern, also "wonder
of the world who has more recently been
deposed; and in reading about all the
great Fredericks enemies and betrayers
and spies will reflect on how much bet
ter the Germans do this sort of thing now.
They may even be forgiven for saying
"Better a page of Ibanez than whole
volume of Hamilton Drummond"
THE BETRAYERS. BY HAMILTON DRUM.
MoND. Z. p. Dutton g. Co.
THERE'S an interesting article by an
Il old chum of Theodore Dreiser's in
the October number of the Peoples Maya
sine. Look for Buying 81, 900 900 Worth
of Fiction, by "thc man who bought it,
TOW, Guy Holt wants to put it like
/ y this: "Robert NJ Mcbride & Co
it is slightly more serious than mystery
story, being based on facts obtained from
Scotland Yard after the death of Billie
Carleton, an English actress.
VITELL, Guy Holt wants to put it like
w this: "Robert NJ. Mcbride & Co
and James Branch Cabell present Juge,
with an all star east, including Guenevere
Helen of Troy, the Lady of the Lake, &C.
Cabell has calmly taken these historic
heroines for characters in his new book.