Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1924-12-28

| batini himself tal,sing-"is
| the history of the estab-
lishment of the modern
inuuisftion 1t Is not SO. much the
history of a man as of an abstract
genius presiding over a gigantic and
cruel engine of its own perfecting.
| OF this engine we may examine for
ourselves today the details of the
complex machinery. Through the
records that survive we may observe
| its cold, smooth action and trace In
Nhis the awful intelligence OF Its
architect But of that architect him.
self we are permitted to catch no
more than an occasional and fleeting
glimpse. Il Is only In the rarest
and briefest moments that he stands
clearly before us as man of flesh
and blood.
Untouched by worldly ambitions.
he seems at once superhuman and
less than human. Dauntless amid
excavations. unmoved by plaudits,
sublimely drsdainful of temporal
veal, in nothing is he so admirable
as in the unfaltering self-abnegation
with which ne devotes himself to
the service of God: in nothing so
terrible and tragically deplorable as
in the actual service that he renders.
In history. as in romance, Rafael
dramatic moments. The story of the
inquisition, the story of Tomas de
Torquemada, it's presiding genius,
would be one of the stories out of
the thousands depicting that terrible
inhumanity of the human to which
Sabatini would bring the ardor of
his undeniable artistry. great
story he tells here. A great picture
of period he paints. A drama of
fanaticism stands here disclosed in
all of its bitter contradictions as 1t
serves the gentlest Man on earth
through the unspeakable cruelties OF
persecution. History alive and walk
ing before you, this-cruel as man
is, bitter as life Is.
PICARD. By Charles Nordhoff. New
York: Harper & Bros.
A delightful fellow, II Picaro-
modern, manly. a business success.
Sounds, thus far, as If this were go
ing to be a prose story. maybe
realism. But it isn't, for the author
has worked out a very alluring ro-
nance with, back of it, first, a rancho
of Spanish flavors in southern Cali
fornia, and, then, back of 1t France
and war time. Both picturesque in
essence. these settings, as Mr.. Nord-
hoff has projected and sustained
them. Out of the ranch life with an
old father, a younger brother and a
little ward of the family. there
comes Picaro's remuneration in favor
of the younger, and lesser, brother.
This remuneration is not spoiled by
odors of duty and piety. Rather does
1t SAVIOR of magnanimity and the
open hand of friendship applied to
ones own family. The setting of
France gives rise to tremendous
ardors of activity, to the stresses of
war time, to strange friendships for
Picaro, to a small voyaging out into
something that looks like romance but
proves to be Illusion. Then there is
the meeting in France OF the two
brothers, Picaro and that lesser one
pathetic now out of the rewards of
his own daredevil heroismS Oh a
lovely story, that, in these amazing
days, is as likely to be a true story
as is the most unromantic of those
realistic chronicles that nowadays
pass as the only truth of fiction,
the only medium worth the honest
novelist's consideration. Nonsense.
Read this romance for your pleasur-
ing. Read the other kind for your
penances.
MESSALINA. by Vivian Crockett.
New York: Boni & Liveright.
When all other superlative epithets
fall short for the branding of that
certain order of wantons who possess
other powers of lure than mere har-
lotry - who possess intelligence,
beauty, grace, sympathy, divination
and fellow ship-then the name Mes
salina" steps out as the name of SUI
preme reproach. of blasting designa-
ton. This is the contribution Of a
Roman empress to the vituperative
resources of our language. Our his
tories tell US that Messalina. the wife
of Claudius, was put to death by the
emperor himself because of her abom-
inably unvirtuous life. Not worth
repeating. this story, it would seem.
Vivian Crockett has done much more
than to revamp old scandals. That
an unworthy business, truly. But he
has done more, for he has painted the
portrait Of period-a vicious period,
of certainty, this Roman first CEN
fury. But 1t is all here-its states
men, its famous men, it's Infamous
ones. its soldiery, its pomp and cir
cumstance, it's gorgeous pageantry,
its pagan outlook. its unbridled joy
of life. All here in broad strokes and
deep shadows, in high lights and
sumptuous colors. At the center of
the picture Is Messalina-unspeak
able to us, who insists on taking his
toric characters out of their time and
place to set them down beside our
expurgated views Of life, beside our
straight lines of behavior. What Mr.
Crockett has tried to do Is to take us
back to Messalina, instead of bring
ing her up to us. And a very re-
markable picture of a period he has
made. 1t has value, too, aside from
its clear literary excellence. 1t makes
for a better understanding of our
own day, a truer Interpretation of it,
a finer appreciation of ourselves and
our time. Documents from Juvenal,
Tacitus, Suetonius, Gibbon, stand
sponsor for the truth of Mr.. Crock
ett's picture, but he himself and alone
is responsible for the artistry Of the
picture.
BED ROCK. BY Jack Bethea Bos-
ton: Houghton, Mif1in Company.
Rather natural, if not in any sense
laudable, that Warren Blackboard,
clerk in a great coal business, should
marry the daughter of the coal baron
| himself, since he could, and since he
had only to look around him to see
| laws and in-laws promoted in the
business regardless of anything they
were able to contribute to 1t. The
| flaw in this move came when, under
great stress, the boy owned up to his
| father-in-law the truth of his sordid
intent. This incident starts the story
| and loads it with the hatred of the
girl herself and the vicious determi-
nation of her father to do for this pre-
| sumptuous son-in-law. The story it
self gets ahead with Warren Black