Books Of The Day.

Books of the Day .

Books , Music , & c . intended for review , should be addressed to the Editor of the Freemason ' s Chronicle , at Fleet Works , New Barnet . — : o : — A Young Dragon . By Sarah Tytler ( 3 s 6 d ) . —Chatto and Windus . THIS story is an admirable exponent of the many-sided genius of Sarah Tytler . The impress of a master hand is on every page . Shrewdness , knowledge of human weakness and of human strength , and a love for natural sights and sounds that " will out " are conspicuous excellencies in most

books by the same author , nor are they absent from " A Young Dragon . " The characters are few , but are sketched with a firm hand and realised with unerring instinct . Andrew Rae , laird and book lovei ' , is one of those unique personalities that at once fix themselves in the memory . He is an excellent third to " Hendry " and " Lachlan Campbell "—two worthies known to all readers of J . M . Barrio and Ian Maclaren . His courtship of Miss Brydone is undertaken as the outcome of a foolish wager ; but Miss Brydone becomes

Mrs . Andrew Rae notwithstanding . The union proves a happy one and many a long day passes before the bride learns the history of the " contretemps " that sent Andrew Rae to her door . The " Young Dragon " is no more dangerous creature than a young woman , niece to Mrs . Rae . She is rather handsome and very wilful , and contrives to set folks by the ears generally . Somehow we could not help liking her and were heartily glad to leave her in lover ' s hands , waiting to be made the bride of Sir Archibald Boswell of the Cairns .

The Purple Robe . By Joseph Hocking . Illustrated by J . Barnard Davis ( 3 s 6 d ) . —Ward , Lock and Co ., Limited . MB . JOSEPH HOCKING has won another " field of fail' renown . " The story before us is admirable alike in plot and in purpose . The Rev . Duncan Rutland , M . A ., minister ot Tudor Chapel , a sound scholar and a ready and eloquent debater , challenges Father Sheen to a public discussion on three of the many vexed questions between Protestant and Romanist . Father Sheen

is put to rout . The Papists in Lynford are much disconcerted at the defeat of their champion , and Father Ritzoom , a Jesuit of characteristic subtlety , is invited to assist the cause . Then a plan of campaign is arranged . The Nevilles , an ancisnt family of Papists residing in the neighbourhood , are employed by Fathers Ritzoom and Sheen as instruments for the conversion of Duncan Rutland . Father Ritzoom surmises—correctly , as the sequel proves—that Duncan will fall in love with Alizon Neville , and renounce his

Protestantism , which , however , does not come to pass . The Nevilles show Duncan every kindness , invite him to the Priory , and impress him favourably by their culture and sympathy . A great mental and moral struggle results and Duncan falls ill . He goes to the continent when convalescent and , most appropriately , the eternal city is his rendezvous . He sees Jesuit and Franciscan activities at their fountain-head , the frescoes and statuary of Michael Angelo in the Sistine Chapel , the ordination of priests at St . John's

Lateran , the room where Ignatius Loyala wrote his Constitutions , the efficacious finger of Teresa , the steps leading to the church of Santa Scala , the dungeon where St . Peter was imprisoned , and much else , holy and otherwise . But Rutland ' s Protestantism is proof against these prodigies , — which , however , have a very unexpected effect upon Alizon Neville , who is also in Home and has accompanied Rutland during some of his rambles , Her ' s is the Pauline experience that it is hard to kick against the pricks ; she renounces Popery , beards the lions and lionesses of religious bigotry in their

own dens , and the curtain falls upon Duncan Rutland and Alizon Nevillebetrothed . Written with an avowed religious purpose , this is the brightest and sanest story of its kind we have ever read . Unfortunately , stories written with an equally commendable intention are frequently little more than a mixture of platitudes and twaddle , and we therefore feel the more deeply indebted to Mr . Hocking for this book , so gracefully written , so nimble in dialectic , so full of human and Christian sympathy . Much study , wrote the wise man , is a weariness to the flesh . Perhaps his contemporaries wrote with a less fascinating pen than that wielded by Mr . Joseph Hocking .

Fairy Tales from Fairyland . By Donald and others ( 2 s net ) . —Gay and Bird . THIS little book has surprised us pleasantly . We had feared the writing of fairy tales was a lost art , but the automaton who signs herself Clara has certainly recovered it for a while . The whole world is , to the eye of this writer , peopled with tiny but important personages . Like the fair Madeline in Keats ' s beautiful poem , she can behold , when wide awake , the vision of her

sleep—that sleep in which she is wont to dream that legioned fairies pace her coverlet . These fairy tales are eminently calculated to interest and instruct children , but to the thoughtful adult , who realises with Longfellow that things are not what they seem , and to whom a primrose is much more than a flower with a monopetalous corolla and a central placentation , they will afford

many a weighty moral . " Clara ' s " theory of the spirit world is indeed very similar to that held by many theologians , old and now , orthodox and heterodox ; but she is bolder than most in pursuing them to their logical conclusion . She is almost as good a story teller as Mr . Andrew Lang , and that , as she is presumably aware , is saying a great deal . The type of this book is large and clear , and this adds much to the reader ' s comfort . Buy it ,

Wide World Adventure . True narratives of extraordinary human endurance . Illustrated ( 2 s 6 d ) . —George Newnes , Limited . WHEN we were boys we read Jules Verne and Edgar Allan Poe . Boys now read Rider Haggard , the many stories in the magazines concerning hairbreadth escapes in the imminent deadly breach and the immortal De Rougemont . The stories in the volume before us do not emanate from De Rougemont , but are near neighbours of his , for they are reprinted from the

magazine in which his narrative was first published . The selection is worth y of all praise and certainly includes an amazing range of adventure . The extraordinary beings that figure in these pages rival those enumerated in Dr , Watts' ditty anent the signs o £ the Zodiac . Our own preferences lead us to mention " In the flooded cave " " Captured by Cannibals " and " The Terrible adventure of Emil Habl " as three first-rate stories of such unusual and graphic detail that it would be difficult to find their equal . When you have

read them the best thing to do is to read them again . We notice that the editor vouches for the absolute veracity of these narratives . Certainly the great men who , as the poet assures us , were living before Agamemnon , would find it unnecessary to blush for the adventurous spirit of this age . True , we do things differently now ; but choice and master spirits are still with us . Messrs . Newnes have issued this volume in a cover which must appeal mightily to the tastes of young England ; ' for the golden lion is assuredly a most " fearful wild-fowl" and the man in his grip must certainly be voted in »

Books Of The Day.

" parlous state . " Messrs . Newnes will , we presume , issue further volumes of these true stories should the first prove a success . We heartily wish it a record sale . British Locomotives . Their history , construction , and modern development . By C . J . Bowen Cooke . Third revised and enlarged edition . Numerous illustrations from sketches and diagrams by 0 . E . Jones and R . A . McLellan ( 7 s 6 d ) . —Whittaker and Co .

WE are glad that this admirable work has been re-issued in a revised edition . The name of Mr . C . J . Bowen Cooke upon the title-page is sufficient guarantee for the authority and thoroughness of the whole ; for it is an open secret that he knows the locomotive engine as Thoreapi knew the squirrel , as Oary knew Dante , or as Clarke Russell knows a sailing vessel . Taking Mr . Cooke's work chapter by chapter it is difficult to see in what re ? pect it could be bettered . Sufficiently technical to bo of great service to practical men it

is at the same time so lucid in style and so well illustrated as to make even the less elementary chapters of interest to anybody who earnestly desires enlightenment and increase of knowledge . The story of the evolution of the locomotive from the " Rocket" ' ¦ Cyclopedic " and " Planet " to the splendid engines now running on all our greater railway systems , is the story of many

victories in applied science , and of an advancement in vehicular means of transit of which our grandsires never dreamt . The photographs in this volume are well reproduced , and the diagrams exceedingly well drawn . Messrs . Whittaker have produced a work which is sure to be warmly appreciated . We trust they will be amply repaid for the care so evidently bestowed upon it .

The Son of the House . By Bertha Thomas ( 6 s ) . —Chatto and Windus . THERE are many living novelists whose chief merit lies in their ability to afford us abundant entertainment . One of the foremost of these is Miss Bertha Thomas . There is a charm in much of her work which it is difficult to analyse . We feel without understanding it . Many writers whom we could name have a much greater knowledge of men , many have a more supreme mastery of the arts of prose style , many feel more deeply the tragedy and

pathos of much that happens in what Wordsworth calls this " unintelligible world . " Yet few of these writers have gifts which , taken collectively , equal those of Miss Bertha Thomas . The work before us is , we think , worthy of the high expectations of many readers of " Proud Maisie " and " The Violin Player . " We remember the p ediction of a critic that the author of " Proud Maisie" would rank hereafter among the foremost living writers of fiction . There is nothing in this book to disappoint him . The hero , Oswald Hendry ,

is a landed proprietor and a socialist . Such a concurrence of circumstances is not without its inconveniences , social and otherwise . The mother of Oswald is mistress of the estate until he is of age , the father—a gentleman altogether untroubled by conscience—being dead . Ralph , the younger brother of Oswald and a scrapegrace , is his mother ' s favourite . The mother does not scruple to pay the "debts consequent upon the gaming and other dissipations of master Ralph ; but when the heir comes into his own and

announces that he regards the possession of wealth as an evil , and is prepared to act up to his opinions , she is exceedingly surprised , as well she may be . The Socialism of Oswald is fostered by Prof . Copinger , a near neighbour , whose books Oswald had read and whose acquaintance he had sought . But Mrs . Hendry has a hard head and a stern tamper . Her dislike for . the Socialism of her son grows into dislike . for the son himself . She is" as ambitious as Oswald is otherwise . Matters grow to a head , the situation

becomes unbearable , and Oswald , after maternal machinations which We must not epitumise , goes temporarily to the wall—and to the asylum . Meanwhile Ralph robs Oswald of his lady-love , whom he marries secretly . Everything , however , is righteously adjusted at the finish , and Oswald escapes from the asylum and from his persecutors . There is much masterlynarration in " The Son of the House " and much weighty though unobtrusive moral . We recommend the book to young and old .

Castle and Manor . A tale of our time . By St . George Mivart , F . R . S . ( 6 s ) . —Sands and Co . THE late Dr . St . George Mivart was the author of many fine essays in natural science , and was , in fact , an eminent authority on matters appertaining to the theory of organic evolution . But we believe the volume before us came as a surprise to many . Not every writer of verses is a poet , and comparatively few , even among good prose writers , can write a good

novel . We are glad to say that " Castle and Manor " is distinctly valuable if only on account of the evidences which it contains of the author's versatile yet profound gifts . He seems to have studied human character , its folly and its wisdom , its weakness and its strength , as comprehensively as he had studied Darwin or Hatckel or Huxley . Mr . and Mrs . AUington are both drawn by a master hand , and the same must in justice be said of Lord Selby and of Standon . Mrs . AUington , in particular , is gradually revealed to us by a

series of subtle touches which would elude the hand of many writers ; she is , indeed , a study in the evolution of feminine foible and physical weakness . We must admit that the story itself is somewhat lacking in what we will term dramatic interest , and that in reading it we experienced a certain feeling that we were always expecting rather than realising the unravelling of the plot . But , notwithstanding a rather slender " yarn , " and a somewhat va ' eiie

motive , " Castle and Manor" is so gracefully conceived , so skilfully wrought even to the most trivial details , that we are sorry indeed to know that the pen of St . George Mivart is laid aside for ever . Messrs . Sands and Co . have issued this volume in such attractive binding ihat , on those grounds , added to the author ' s great reputation , we shall be much surprised if it does not reach a further edition . Readers should , not fail to bear in mind that this book was written more than ten years ago .

Lodge Meetings Next Week.

LODGE MEETINGS NEXT WEEK .

Puller particulars as to place of meeting of the undermentioned Lodges are given in the Freemasons' Calendar and Pocket Book ( published by Grand Lodge for the benefit of the Charity Fund ) .

Monday . 1305 St . Marylebone , Criterion

61 Probity , Halifax 75 Love and Honour , Falmouth 89 Unanimity , Dukinfield 104 St . John , Stockport 105 Fortitude , Plymouth 106 Sun , Estnouth

Lodge Meetings Next Week.

151 Albany , Newport , I . of Wight 189 Sincerity , East Stonehouse

237 Indefatigable , Swansea 240 St . Hilda , South Shields 254 Nelson of the Nile , Batley 270 R . Faith & Friendship , Berkeley 296 Royal Brunswick , Sheffield 297 Whitham , Lincoln