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" THE GRAND SANHEDRIM " A Paper for reading : at Royal Arch Chapters , & c . BY OKLTON COOPEB , M . E . Z . 483 , H . 1928 , Price thirteen pence , post free from BRO . ALFRED H . COOPER , PUBLISHER , 19 COLEMAN STREET , LONDON , E . G ., or from " Freemason ' s Chronicle Office , " New Barnet .

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 . The Love of Parson Lord and other stories . By Mary E . Wilkins . Illustrated ( 6 s ) . —Harper and Brothers . WE need hardly say that everything from the pen of Mary B . Wilkins is ¦ worth reading . There is spiritual charm , shrewd and searching insight , and

rare literary ability evinced in this volume . The writer combines in her own inimitable style many excellencies to be found separately in other writers . We cannot quite explain the how or the why , but when reading the two chief stories here published , " The Love of Parson Lord " and " The Tree of Knowledge , " we have been reminded sometimes of Jane Austen and Miss Ferrier , sometimes of Emma Jane Worboise , and sometimes of Katherine

Tynan . We think the order of merit follows the order of succession in the volume . Unquestionably " The Love of Parson Lord" is superior to " The Tree of Knowledge , " and " One Good Time " is the least valuable of the five stories . It gives us , however , great pleasure to express the opinion that " One Good Time " is so good that very few American or English writers could have produced it . There is good dialogue in these stories , and belter

scenes . The writer has studied the great tragi-comedy of human life with an earnest desire to portray it faithfully in her own finely finished prose sketches . These stories are from the New World , but are full of that Old World charm and romance which , like charity in the scriptures , never faileth . Truth may be still supposed to reside at the bottom of a well ; but

writers like Mary B . Wilkins seem , nevertheless , to be its intimate acquaintances . We apprehend that this author could handle a long family story , say of the Pendennis order , very skilfully . Perhaps , however , she may know by heart the strictures of Edgar Allan Poe on " sustained effort , " and may fear to venture into such deep waters . We shall see .

Love , Sport , and a Double Event . By W . P . Gilpin ( 3 s 6 d ) . —Leadenhall Press , Limited . ALL classes of readers will welcome this volume . It contains a capital story , carefully thought out and fluently written . The love is truly an exemplification of that touch of nature that mnkes the whole world kin ; the sport is admirably described , and is wholly free from the many objectionable

features usually prevalent in sporting stories , and the " double event" is thoroughly satisfactory and leaves everybody concerned in it on good terms with everybo . dy else . There is not a dull page in the volume . Hugh is a thoroughly good fellow ; Norah is tenderly human and withal an attractive and winsome lass ; Leslie proves himself a good master and a typical

gentleman ; and the immortal " Bogside " is a horse of rare paces who carries the hero to triumph in many a classic encounter . This story of a second son sent peremptorily into the world to carve his own career , who , making straight to an old horse-dealer , finds employment and eventually makes a name and a competence , is sure to be largely bought . We cannot think that anybody will regret their purchase .

Letters from some friends who have crossed the border . Automatically written ( Is 6 d net ) . —Gay and Bird . LITEBATUEE ostensibly consigned to us from beyond the tomb is of rapid growth . " Letters from Hell " and " A Dead Man ' s Diary " were followed by many books inferior in conception and in literary merit ; but here we have something rather different to anything we have seen before . We Brethren are little given to dogmatise on matters appertaining to theology ; but we

may express the opinion that such a book as this , which is a blending of great and awful mysteries with somewhat crudely conceived fictions , is sure to be a stumbling block of offence to many . For the rest , it is not ill written , and many of the letters display deep thought and an earnest desire to say the thing that shall be of service to mankind . Letters from the living to the dead , like Mr . Lang ' s " Letters to Dead Authors" are no new experiment in literature , but letters from the dead to the living can at least claim to be somewhat of an innovation .

Rhymes old and new . Collected by M . E . S . Wright ( 3 s 6 d net ) . —T . Fisher Unwin . " THESE are good rhymes " said Pope ' s papa , after reading the juvenile effusions of the youthful Alexander—the future transformer of Homer . We will answer for it that every child who reads this book will love it . How could boy or girl do otherwise ? There is a catholic , a world-wide assortment

of nursery and other rhymes here , and some , at least , must interest everybody . How could anybody despise the verse which tells of a frost so great that birds froze to the trees ? or what girl would spurn the ditty that tells how the hungry ladykin consigned her wooly-nosed lamb to the oven ? There is excellent taste , judgment and industry displayed in this compilation . The

editing of literature for young folk is a more arduous task than many suppose , and we should do the work before us scant justice if we failed to express our hearty approval of the selection of verses , of the printing , and of the cat on the cover . Such a book , like our old friends iEsop , Gay , and La Fontaine , Is welcomed in every home .

The Fight for the Crown . By W . E . Norris . Third edition ( 8 s 6 d ) . — Seeley and Co ., Limited . MB . NOKBIS has accomplished a difficult task with commendable skill , As readers of " My Friend Jim " are aware , Mr . Norris , without creating any great pother or ado , contrives to entertain his readers Very agreeably . Had the sub

we seen ject of this novel Slightly sketched as a foretaste of the book that was to be we should have predicted a failure . Such materials would make but a sorry tale in some hands . " The Fight for the Crown " concerns things Irish—politics , landlords , outrages and hospitality . On the whole , as we have intimated , we think it may be voted a success . It is not a purely political novel like " Coningsby , " it is not a study of Irish life in the manner

Books Of The Day.

of Katherine Tynan ; but it contains many elements common to both . There is the young lady of histrionic ambition , the paterfamilias with financial embarrassments , the enthusiastic lady-politician , and the wealthy young Englishman . The world , as Lord Byron says , must turn upon its hinges , and some of its turns , in the volume before us , are both unfortunate and unforseen . The red-hot Radicalism of Lady Virginia , and the halfhearted Liberalism of Wilfred are depicted so skilfully that our attention is somewhat unduly engrossed by these worthies . We think , indeed , that these

two characters are much more ably drawn than Nora Power or Lady Laura , who remind us of Henry James and his " partial portraits . " Neither of these young ladies are fascinating , but they play their parts on life ' s stage efficiently , and figure -well enough when the curtain is about to fall , Readers who care nothing for politics will turn the leaves of this book rapidly ; but the prominence given to that bote noire , Home Rule , will attract persons otherwise minded . Messrs . Seeley and Co . have issued this third edition in very tasteful garb ; it is of wonderfully light weight , and well printed . We hope it may prove a great success .

BOOKS RECEIVED . An Evening with " Punch . "—Being a selection , from the "First Fifty Years of ' Punch , '" of a few of the pictures , some of the wit , and some of the ¦ wisdom , with which the volumes of " Punch " abound . To which ate added sundry notes and comments ( 2 s 6 d net ) . —Bradbury , Agnew and Co ., Limited .

Sonnets Of The Greek Mythology, No. 16.

Sonnets of the Greek Mythology , No . 16 .

TO LETHE * OH ! Lethe , of thy draught , forgetfnlness I fain would drink , and drinking , steep my brain . In that oblivion which soothes distress And banishes the former pangs of pain . The past I would erase from off the scroll Of my existence—I would obliterate

The sins I have committed , and my soul Would then be purged and lightened , and the weight Which weighs it down , would fall , and I should be Blythe as the bird , for should I not be free Of this absorbing , overwhelming -woe , That hurls me into gulfs of dark despair , Where all is dismal with depressent care , So full of Stygian horror is its flow .

Bradford . CHAS . F . FOESHAW , M . A . * In Greek Mythology , Lethe is the river of oblivion . Its water possessed the quality of causing those who drank it to forget the whole of their former existence .

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