Books Of The Day.

BOOKS OF THE DAY .

. u ; Books , Music , & c . Intended for review , should be addressed to the Editor of the Freemason ' s Chronicle , at Fleet Works , New Barnet . Mrs . Frederick Graham . A novel . By Alice A . Clowes ¦ ( 2 s 6 d ) . —Swan Sonnenschein , and Co ., Limited . AUTOLYCUS , who was a snapper up of unconsidered trifles , might have regarded Miss Clowes ' s latest story as a curiosity

worthy to mingle with his wares . It is a series of love episodes and domesticities rather than a novel in the usual acceptation of that word . Mrs . Frederick Graham one evening fell asleep , and as she slept she dreamed a dream—the retrospect of her past life . The series of figures presented to the mind of the sleeping lady was a very peculiar series indeed . There was Mary Graham , a

young girl who leaned from her window one moonlight night at Brighton for a purpose which readers may guess ; there was Mary Graham ' s papa , a literary gentleman of astonishing irritability , who was wont to destroy the furniture when at the height of his tantrums ; there was Robert Ward , who married Mary Graham one morning at Hampstead , surreptitiously and before breakfast ; there

was Robert Ward's son John , who fell in love with Lucy , the housemaid . Time fails us in which to mention other characters in this book , almost all of whom , either fortunately or very unfortunately , fall in love—and sometimes fall out of it again . To do this , with adequate amplification , would be to rival the catalogue of the ships in Homer . We venture to remark that Miss Clowes is not always

happy either in her vocabulary or her metaphors . Most persons bestow some care , upon the first paragraph of a book . Now we can understand that Miss Clowes , or anybody else , might pen an ill worded sentence , but we cannot think how any lady of her ability can have re-read and approved such a sentence as the following : " SHOALS of white-gowned nurses , ARMED with perambulators

daily CONVEY the infancy of the district to Kensington Gardens and the Park and back again . " We are not aware that nurses move about in " shoals" and are certainly of opinion that the Jady who " arms " herself with a perambulator has rcso'irre to a strange weapon . We could point out other faults , but young •readers will fail to notice them , and older readers will pardon them for the sake of what is , after all , a very readable story .

New Century Library ( 2 s net per vol . ) . —T . Nelson and Sons . The Works of WILLIAM MAKEPEACE THACKERAY . —Vol . ix ., The Virginians . THE Thackeray " question , " among many others , comes to the front again as we step into the new century . This , considering

that his works are among the earliest volumes of the " New Century Library , " is perhaps natural . O pinions , as usual , are divided . Thackeray , according to " Lord Bingham , " is the enemy of the human race—a wicked cynic ; according to Carlyle , he "had more reality , and would cut up into a dozen Dickenses . " Most critics agree that the tide of Thackeray's genius flowed up to the

completion of the "Virginians , " and then the ebb set in . This novel is the sequel to "Esmond , ' - and , like almost all sequels and second parts—witness " Don Quixote , " " Robinson Crusoe , " and the "Pilgrim's Progress *"—is somewhat inferior to ( its forerunner . But the work has had many admirers . Mr . Walter Pollock after' some more or less derogatory remarks , says " it is charming

enough in its life-likeness , in the wit and wisdom of it ; reflections , and . in its portrait of Beatrix grown old . " Charming , indeed , it will be found by every reader of taste who has not already perused it , for the charm of Thackeray's almost unrivalled style seldom forsook . him , and the shrewdness of his observations on men and things is quite as apparent in the " Virginians " as in his other stories . Apropos , we once heard it said

that the "Heart of Midlothian , " written in the English of " Esmond" and the " Virginians , " would be the finest novel in the world . Without endorsing this dictum unconditionally we may point out how high an opinion it expresses of the merits of Thackeray as a stylist . How thoroughly we admire this edition of the great novelist ' s works is already known to our readers . We heartily hope it will continue to sell largely , and will ultimately prove a splendid success .

The Romany Rye : A Sequel to "Lavengro . " By George Borrow . With special introduction by Theodore Watts-Dunton . New edition ( 2 s ) . —Ward , Lock and Co ., Limited . GEORGE BORROW , as Mr . Theodore Watts-Dunton remarks in the introduction to this volume , is now an English classic . He is best known to the mob of gentlemen who read with ease by his

work ' The Bible in Spain , " but students are attracted to him because he made one subject particularly his own—the gipsy . That ubiquitous Pariah , so little understood in many circles , so little discussed or noticed , has been more fully shown to the world in the works of George Borrow than in those of any other writer . The " Romany Rye " is a sequel to " Lavengro " ( already published

in the " Minerva Library" ) , and the two volumes , by the singular nature of their subject-matter , form a work which hardly anybody save George Borrow could have written . Readers will find that the author can strike out very vigorously when he deems it needful , but he is usually candid , and can seldom be charged with

inconsistency . Messrs . Ward , Lock and Co . did well to include , in their famous '' Minerva Library , " several works which had not previously been published at so low a price . These excellent reprints are , moreover , carefully edited and printed , and are so handsomely bound that we expect to see them largely bought as gift-books ,

Books Of The Day.

A Sister of the Red Cross . A Tale of the South African War . By Mrs . L . T . Meade ( 3 s 6 d ) . —Thomas Nelson and Sons . THE volumes by " L . T . Meade , " or by "Mrs . L . T . Meade" ' threaten , like the line of kings which the witches showed Macbeth , to " stretch out to the crack of doom . " There the likeness ends ,

for , whereas Macbeth wished to see no more , we have no objection to see as many volumes by Mrs . L . T . Meade as that lady chooses to write . The volume before us is a " Story of Ladysmith" and an excellent story it is . The writer , who knows well how strongly a character is emphasised by being mixed with other and very diverse characters , has skilfully grouped together personages who , by the very diversity of their gifts and graces , tend to set each

others characteristics in clear relief . We commend this volume to the serious attention of the " new woman , " who will find in its pages some very salutary lessons . The stress and storm of those days spent in the beleagured town may be vividly realised in these chapters , and it is precisely the figure of woman in the discharge of womanly duties that is the attractive feature of the story . We hope the book will find many readers .

MESSRS . CHATTO AND WINDUS will shortly publish a story of Robert Louis Stevenson , by Mr . B . Baildon . MESSRS . MACMILLAN announce "The Problem of Conduct / ' by A . E . Taylor ; " Disease of Plants , " by Dr . H . M . Ward ; " The History of Colonisation , from the Earliest Times to the Present Day , " by H . C . Morris ; and " A new History of the Book of

Common Prayer , '' by Rev . W . H . Frere . MESSRS . WELLS GARDNER , DARTON AND CO . are to publish " •The Church and New Century Problems , " a collection of lectures by Canons Scott-Holland , Barnett , Gore , and others . This volume will certainly merit very careful perusal , and the demand for it will probably be large .

MR . FISHER UNWIN announces " England ' s neglect of Science , " by Professor Perry , and " Taxes on Knowledge , " by C . D . Collett . MR . ALFRED KINGSTON has written " The Romance of a hundred years ; Remarkable chapters in the Social and Public Life of the Nineteenth century . " Mr . Elliot Stock is the publisher .

Alderman Sir Joseph Dimsdale , M . P ., Past Grand Treas . and Sir Homewood Crawford Past Grjand Deacon have celebrated the twenty-first anniversary of their initiation into the Grand Masters Lodge , No . 1 , by presenting a very handsome gold rose-water dish to the Lodge .

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