Books Of The Day.

BOOKS OF THE DAY .

Books , Music , Sin . intended for review , should be addressed to the Editor of the Freemason ' s Chronicle , at Fleet Works , New Barnet . — : o : — Days of Doubt . By Alice Maud Meadows . Illustrated by G . Demain Hammond ( 3 s 6 d ) . —Ward , Lock and Co ., Ltd . SOME people are very fond of reading about " doubles , " and of late novelists have made much copy out of . these mysterious

duplicates . We cannot say that , as a rule , we are much impressed with these creations , but , the " double" once created , the possibilities for ingenious complications are so many that here and there we find a writer who puts those possibilities to excellent use . We have here a man , Arthur Richmond , who prevents another man from committing suicide . He soon discovers that the person

whom he has rescued is the exact counterpart of himself ; lie leaves his double in 1 MS chambers , meets with an accident , and suffers from concussion of the brain ; loses his memory , and is claimed as a clerp-vman's son . But the young lady whom , earlier in the book , Richmond was hoping to marry in a few days , is persuaded that he is not the man others suppose him to be ; she finds her lover again , an old , old ceremony is presently performed ,

and doubtless Mr . and Mrs . Arthur Richmond lived happily ever afterwards . The lady who wrote " Days of Doubt" has excellent abilities and a sureness of hand that ausrurs well for her future ; but we shall look anxiously for a little more restraint in her next story . Miss Meadows can , indeed , tell fii story so well that it is a pity she should allow any extravagance of phrase or conception to mar her work . The book will probably find many 'readers .

The Naulahka . A story of West and East . By Rudyard Kipling and Wolcott Balestier ( 6 s ) . —Macmillan and Co ., Limited . MR . KIPLING , despite his faults—like other frail mortals , he has faults—unquestionably merits a uniform edition of his writings . This Messrs . Macmillam are issuing and , as most of our readers are aware , the edition is being excellently printed and tastefully bound .

In the production of " The Naulahka " Mr . Kipling collaborated with Mr . Wolcott B'alestier , and the two writers have between them given us a remarkable story . That story is not easily told in a few sentences , nor are we often eager to give readers such a forecast of the menu ; but we may mention that the scene is laid partly in the " States" and partly in India , that the hero , Tarvin , is as great a

character in his way as Seth Jones of New Hampshire , whom we all once knew and loved in Beadle ' s American Library , and that the heroine , Kate , is one of those persons—too rarely met with in this world—who have the courage of their convictions , and who honestly seek for duty rather than happiness . There is also a Maharajah , such as few writers save Mr . Kipling could have conceived and

depicted , and a most faithful and shrewd , but doubtful-tempered , mouse-coloured Kathiawar stallion , who had eaten troopers of the Deolee Irregular Horse , and was named Fibby Winks . There is also a gigantic precious stone , much travelling and many adventures , and by the time we are back again at Topaz with Tarvin and Kate we feel as if we have been great travellers , like Mr . Kipling .

The French Revolution . A history by Thomas Carlyle . Three volumes complete in one . With an introduction and full page illustrations ( 2 s ) . —Ward , Lock and Co ., Ltd . WE can hardly have too many editions of this most singular of all histories . Anybody who has read Carlyle at all will anticipate , and rightly , that the " French Revolution " is by no means light or

easy reading : but it is reading of a sort which may be looked for in vain anywhere else . It is the most effective series of word-pictures ever put on paper bv the pen , and this is the more wonderful because Carlyle has himself told us that his was not the pen of a ready writer . He has told us , or rather , he told his wife , that no book ever came more directly from the heart of the writer . We shall ,

however , perhaps do a service to those who intend to read this history for the first time if we advise them to get ' a knowledge of the period of the French Revolution from other sources before reading Carlyle , for he does not narrate everything , but rather leads you to the open window , shows you the greater and more tragic episodes being enacted in the street beneath , and asks you what you think of it all .

His story of the storm and capture of the Bastille is certainly superior to almost everything of its kind in any literature , ancient or dead ; we will answer for it that readers will seek in vain for its equal in Michelet . in Gibbon , in Froude , in Grote , in Hallam , in Alison , or even in Macaulay . " O evening sun of July , how , at this hour , thy beams fall slant on reapers amid peaceful woody

fields ; on old women spinning in cottages ; on ships far out in the silent main ; on Balls at the Orangery of Versailles , where highrouged Dames of the Palace are even now dancing with doublejacketed Hussar-Officers : —and also on this roaring Hell-porch of a Hotel-de-Ville . " 'Tis not in mortals to command literary success , but it would be if they could write like that .

Malcolm . By George Macdonald ( 6 d ) . —George Newnes , Limited . THE sixpenny novel has certainly come to stav , and seeing what marvels of cheapness some of them are this is not to be wondered at . Messrs . Newnes have here reprinted a long novel by a writer whose recognition from the public , great as it is , is hardly equal to his merits ; and this , one of George Macdonald ' s best books , can be bought for fourpence-halfpenny . We have often read that a vprv

tew books , if judiciously chosen , will serve to nourish a man's mind ; certainly this intellectual nourishment can now be' accomplished at a very small expense . Malcolm himself has proved eduymg company to many , but you must sit in his presence for some time in order to know his character at its true worth . We hope many will take advantage of this cheap issue ; for " Malcolm" is worth purchasing at the price of many sixpences ,

Books Of The Day.

New Century Library ( 25 net per vol . ) . —T . Nelson and Sou . The Works of CHARLES DICKENS . Vol . x ., Bleak House . Do not grumble , but read Bleak House ; advice less wise is often tendered and accepted . There is a special difficulty in writing press notices of the works of Charles Dickens , for everything that can be

said in their favour has been said a hundred times , and the language of commendation is exhausted . In the present instance we can do nothing more than again draw the attention of our readers to this handy and elegant reprint , the chief merit of which lies in the fact that although a large type is used the volumes may be carried in a

small pocket . The use of India paper is wholly a recommendation , for it is quite as strong as very much stouter material , although 1 , 500 pages will lie in less than an inch . Readers will be wise if they ignore the discussion now raging as to the locality of Bleak House , for it can hardly be said to tend to edification . Read the book instead .

A volume of essays by Dr . Richard Garnett is announced by Mr . Heinemann . It will be entitled " The Essays of an Ex-Librarian " and will contain studies of Matthew Arnold , Shelley , Beaconsfield , Peacock , and others . Mr . Heinemann will also shortly publish a work on " The New South African Colonies : Their Value and Development . "

No time has been lost in arranging for a biography of the late Charlotte M . Yonge . It has been undertaken by Miss Christabel Coleridge , but we have not yet learned who will be the publisher . We are promised yet another edition of our old friend Gilbert White . Messrs . J . M . Dent and Co . are adding "The Natural History of Selborne" to their Temple Classics , and their readers will fully appreciate the addition . There seems to be no limit to the demand for this book .

Persons interested in the story of thought and culture during the Middle Ages , and in the work and influence of such men us Erasmus , Luther , and Reuchlin , will be pleased to hear that under the title " Renaissance Types" Mr . Fisher Unwin will shortly publish Mr . W . S . Lilly ' s contributions to our understanding of these matters .

We are very pleased that , side by side with his " Scoundrels and Co . " Mr . Coulson Kernahan has found opportunity to publish " Wise Men and a Fool . " Mr . Kernahan has re-written—and very carefull y , too—his studies of George Macdonald , Watts-Dunton , and Frederick Locker-Lampson . Those who know and love that unpretentious , slender volume , " Sorrow and Song , " will look for searching though kindly criticism land finished prose in " Wise men and a Fool . " Thev will not be disappointed .

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