Books Of The Day.

Books of the Day .

Books , Music , Sic . intended for review , should be addressed to the Editor of the Freemason ' s Chronicle ^ at Fleet Works , New Barnet . The Orange Girl , by Walter Besant . Filth edition , with eight illustrations by Fred . Pegram ( 6 s ) . —Chatto and Windus . OUB distinguished Brother Sir Walter Besant has given us a good book . To put before u « a vivid picture of the London of 1760 ; to know its ins and outs as Sir Walter Scott knew Edinburgh or as Balzac knew Paris ; to be

acquainted with its dark places and its villainies , its gossip and its literature , almost as intimately as Dr . Johnson—all this is to have read a great deal and to have ' toiled terribly . " Yet all this has been done by the author o £ " The Orange Girl . " The painter covers a large canvas ; he is realistic as Hogarth , minute as the Flemish school , suggestive as Nicolas Poussin . To drop metaphor , this book has reminded us sometimes o £ "Amelia , " sometimes of " The Fortunes of Nigel , " sometimes of " Jack Sheppard . " We do not

insinuate that Sir Walter Besant is , however remotely , a plagiarist ; we mean rather that "The Orange Girl" has some of the excellencies of these books , combined with some traits eminently the author ' s own . Miss Jenny Wilmofc , the heroine , is one who in her time plays many parts . The thieving scoundrels associated with her mother at " The Black Jack " ; the godless fops and Jezebel" who resort to her masquerades and know her as Madame Yallance ; " Will , " her cousin by marriage and Alice his wife—all have much to do with her life story , and she does honourably by them all . The

conspiracy to deprive Will Hallidayof his reversionary interest in his father's will ; how Jenny assisted to expose it ; what condign punishment fell upon the loathsome villains who hatched the plot ; these events are narrated so forcibly that we are drawn on rapidly from chapter to chapter and are surprised when we find ourselves nearing the end of the story—by no means a short one . Mr . Fred Ingram has done his work of illustration well . The frontispiece is perhaps somewhat stiff in pose ; but " I lifted my cudgel" and " He played a wedding march " are admirably conceived .

Runnymede and Lincoln Fair . A story of the great Charter , by J . G . Edgar , illustrated by Adolf Thiede ( 3 s 6 d ) . —Ward , Lock and Co . " A sriKBiNG picture of the days of King John . Marlborough once said he knew no English History but what he had learned from Shakspeare ; we are sure there are many who know little of the Plantagenets save what they glean from such volumes as that before us . 'Tis a pleasant gleaning , too . 'Tis all so real in this setting . The wily barons and the yet more wily King ; the Saxon and the Norman ; the Tower of London and Collingham ' s camp of

refuge ; the crafty De Moreville and the enterprising , ambitious Icingla ; the flight , with battle-axe at saddle-bow and the chase directed by the fugitive's own blood-hound ; such men and things move hurriedly through these pages and afford lively entertainment to the reader . Boys who forget Hume , despise Mackintosh , and weary of Green , remember the whole substance of such books as this . " Runnymede and Lincoln Fair " was published many years ago in the Boy ' s Annual . We are glad to welcome it again , especially in the form of such a handsome volume with a resplendent warrior on the cover .

Driftwood . —By Mary E . Palgrave , with seven illustrations ( 5 s ) . —Eeligious Tract Society . THEHE is power , and pathos too , in this story . We were not , we confess , particularly enamoured of the first few chapters . Indeed , Miss Palgrave plays a quiet hand at the outset , but brings out some excellent court-cards towards the end of the rubber . Her characters bear such diverse features that they set each other ' s strength and weakness iu clear relief . A man ' s

nature , says Bacon , tends to run either to herbs or to weeds : " Driftwood " is a powerful sermon upon that text . Fortunately , the weeds become herbs , for the characters undergo complete metamorphosis as the story proceeds . They give us one impression to the middle of the book , but another and very different impression at the end . Marjory Graham , the protagonist in the drama , a rollicking girl with the animal uppermost and a craze for social and theatric distinction , ignores her brother's example and advice and sinks to the

gutter and the workhouse . She relents at length , and when life is almost spent marries the faithful John Hepburn , who has waited and watched her vagaries for years . Her brother , Oliver , is transformed from a keen-headed , persevering youth with strong self love t > the fore , into a spiritually minded man with an oven stronger love for somebody else . His wife , when first we are introduced to her , is a study in self complaceny ; when we part company she is a study in self abnegation . If there is one chapter more ably executed than another it is that entitled " opposing forces , " in which Oliver Graham

calls upon his sister Marjory—to find her about to accompany Mrs . Dangerfield and Mr . Verinder-Smith to a performance of an unsavoury play , " The Shady Side . " The whole chapter is well conceived and admirably dramatic in its incidents . We do not always care for stories with momentous morals or sermons in the guise of visions ; but we sincerely hope that " Driftwood " may fall into many hands . It is ever a matter of surprise to us that while such books as these lie undisturbed in the parochial library persons invest pence in the invertebrate rubbish produced as fiction by the weekly press .

A Voice from Nazareth . Parti . By the Wandering Jew ( Is ) . —Simpkin , Marshall and Go . SOME ages are ages of intellectual disquiet . They are fretful as the unresting play of surf upon the reef . In such ages opinions are much shaken sciences are systematised afresh ; dogmas are modified . Such was the age of Lucian ; such the age of Erasmus ; such the age in which we live and move . " A voice from Nazareth " is the voice of one uttering his protest against the

orthodox exposition of the Bible narrative . The writer discourses on some time honoured names . He wisely hides his own . He would have us take down the old pictures of Abraham and Jacob , and hang them afresh , somewhat lower , after he has touched them up and made them resemble mors closely his conception of those worthies . How many persons are likely to comply with the wishes of the Wandering Jew we shall not venture to suggest . They will probably look to his credentials and qualifications . We have done so . We opened at random and read that " Abram regarded the truth in the light

only of a convenient thing , which justified him in perverting it if it answered his purpose . " Having lighted upon the incident of Sarai ' s conduct in Egypt the writer fastens upon it and displays it as though it were typical of Abram ' s wonted methods of procedure 1 We strongly believe that there are per"ons who will pervert the truth to answer their purposes ; but we dare not affirm that Abram was such an one . We are glad to find , in this instalment of a boldly critical essay , an absence of that dogmatic spirit which so often disfigures works of this description .

Books Of The Day.

THE January part of " Cassell ' s Magazine " is a good number , and well up to date , one of the features being a fully illustrated article : "The scene of action : all about the Boers , " which is particularly interesting at the moment . The number opens with a story by Bret Harte , " A belle of Canada city , " in the well known style of the famous writer ; while among the other contents we may specially refer to "An escape from Strasbourg , " a thrilling story founded on fact ; " Snow Games , " " Actors who are Artists , " and the continuation of the serial " A gay conspiracy . " In every department the illustrations are made special features .

BOOKS RECEIVED . Soldier Rigdale . How he sailed in the "Mayflower" and how he served Miles Standish . By Beulah Marie Dix , author of Hugh Gwyeth : a Eoundhead Cavalier . With illustrations by Beginald B . Birch — Macmillan and Co ., Ltd . Boy Life on the Prairie . By Hamlin Garland , illustrated by E . W . Deming . —Macmillan and Co ., Ltd .

Gulliver ' s Travels . By Jonathan Swift . Edited by G . Ravenscroft Dennis , B . A ., London . Bohn ' s Standard Library . Vol . VIII of the prose works of Jonathan Swift , D . D . Edited by Temple Scott , with a biographical introduction by the Rt . Hon . W . E . H . Lecky , M . P . — George Bell and Sons . Wimborne Minster and Christchurch Priory . —A short history of their foundation and descrip tion of their buildings . By the Rev . Thomas Perkins , M . A ., F . R . A . S ., Rector of Tumworth , Dorset . With

illustrations from photographs by the author . —George Bell and Sons . The Making of Europe . By " Nemo . " A simple account of the origin and formation of the principal countries and states of modern Europe ( 3 s 6 d ) . —Thomas Nelson and Sons .

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Just published , Crown 8 vo ., Cloth , 5 s . MILITARY LODGES . The Apron and the Sword , or Freemasonry under Arms ; being an account of Lodges in Regiments and Ships of War , and of famous soldiers and sailors ( of all countries ) , who have belonged to the Society , together with biographies of distinguished Military and Naval

Brethren , and anecdotes showing the influence of Masonry in warfare . By Robert Freke Gould ( late 31 st Foot , barrister-at-law ) Past Senior Grand Deacon of England P . M . Nos . 92 and 2076 London , 153 Gibraltar , 570 Shanghai , and 743 , 1 st Batt . East Surrey Regiment , & c . Author of " Tho History of Freemasonry , " and other Works . Gale and Polden , Ltd ., 2 Amen Corner , London ; and Aldershot .

Catholics And Freemasonry.

CATHOLICS AND FREEMASONRY .

IN this world it seems to be a general law that action and reaction are equal and opposite . Great hopes follow on great fears ; periods of depression succeed to periods of excitement . And all this is specially true in regard to the attitude of Catholics towards Freemasonry . During the nonsensical

revelations of Diana Vaughan , concocted by the infamous Leo Taxil—revelations which in these columns we ridiculed at the time of their appearance—rnany Catholics fo / ncied that at length Freemasonry was on the eve of being publicly unmasked . And then , when the genesis of the swindle could no longer be denied , the pendulum of Catholic feeling swung back to the other extreme .

From fearing Masonry with a childish dread , good people began to believe , or at least to say , that there was nothing in Masonry to fear at all ; that it was a bogey ; that it was largely innocent ; and even level-headed Catholics concluded that whatever might be its danger in Continental countries , where , in particular , they said , it was opposed by the Church , in England , and the same

was true for America , Masonry was largely harmless , or , if hurtful at all , it was only to those who too frequently partook of the banquets given at the meetings of their Lodge . But such views as these can hardly be maintained in face of the statements just published in the current issue of the " American Ecclesiastical Eeview . "

The writer , Eev . Father Coppens , S . J ., of the Creighton University , Omaha , has succeeded , he says , in obtaining a copy of what purports to be an account of Masonic doctrine , published by authority and prepared for the Supreme Council of the thirty-third Degree for the Southern Jurisdiction of the United States . We say " purports to be , " not that we impugn Father Coppens ' s " bona fides" ; indeed , he himself boldly and openly

challenges denial . "As a Catholic writer , " he says , " I want the truth ; and to promote it , I here invite my opponents to show the worthlessness of this one authority , if they can . If they cannot—and I am convinced they cannot do so—I shall , have proved my point . " Yet we do not fail to note his own admission : " I managed several years ago to get a copy through someone ' s blunder . "

Our readers will not think us guilty of straining out a point unduly if we express our astonishment and our regret that the reverend writer , having had the copy " several years , " has not seen fit before now to enlighten the world on the infamous doctrines which the book propounds . However , he may have

excellent reasons of his own for the long delay ; but it is well , after the recent experience with Dio . na Vaughan , that Catholics should take every caution not to buy a dark horse in : t loose box . It is well to put it through its paces before they estimate its worth . Still , taking the book on F & tiuiv : Gopuens ' s authority to be