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 . On Peter's Island . By Arthur R . Ropes and Mary E . Ropes ( 6 s ) . —John Murray . THE collaboration of Mr . Ropes with Miss Mary Ropes must certainly be pronounced a success ; for between them they have

given us a very good novel . How good it is will be known to readers when they find that , although the story runs to the length of something like 125 , 000 words , only a dunce would express relief when he reached the last page . The authors of " On Peter ' s Island " are deeply learned in all that pertains to their subject , which first took shape in their minds when they were in St . Petersburg nearly

twenty years ago . We are not sure that their merit is due , in a large degree , to originality ; the fact is rather that what others have often done well they have done still better . The whole story is incomparably realistic , so much so that we sometimes feel not as readers but onlookers , as so often happens to readers of CarlyLe . The character of Dunia is , we apprehend , the most highly finished

conception in the story ; her anarchical aspirations , her medical knowledge , her prompt decision , her red hair—everything , even to the most trivial detail , is fully realised and portrayed . Then there is the secret society , so typical of Russia and the Russians , and the Pole , Lubinski , who betrayed the society to which he belonged—not so well drawn , perhaps , as Dunia , but still a living character . We

wish these writers would study some other phases of Russian life and give us another book as good as the one before us . Russia , as most novelists are aware , is one of several happy huntinggrounds for such as seek dark plots and darker incidents , and how succesful their search sometimes is may be read in the pages of "On Peter ' s Island . "

The Book of the Cheese . Being traits and stories of "Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese / ' Wine Office Court , Fleet Street , E . G . Compiled by the late T . W . Reid . Third edition , revised by William Hussey Graham . Fourth edition , edited by R . R . D . Adams , M . A . Illustrated by Messrs . Seymour Lucas , R . A ., Herbert Railton , Joseph Pennell , Walter Allen , and George Cruickshank ( 2 s ) . —T . Fisher Unwin .

THE homes and haunts of Dr . Johnson is perhaps , on the whole , the most fascinating topic ever discussed by a true English man of letters . It is therefore no matter for surprise that " The Book of the Cheese " has reached a fourth edition—we heartily hope to live to see the fortieth . We took this little book to town in our pocket , nor did we sleep at night until we had reached the end .

How realistic the pictures are ! Mr . Herbert Railton , whose delicately finished drawings are known to everybody in " Our English Minsters" and " Coaching Days and Coaching Ways" has done much to heighten our interest in the square , brown miscellany before us . Hte drawing of Dr . Johnson's house in Gough Square is a most exquisite piece of work , reproduced from the pages of "The

Sketch" and that of the staircase in the " Old Cheshire Cheese is almost as good . The book is full of anecdotes of nill sorts of celebrities , even as the far-famed pudding is full of good things , and if there is any poor , benighted person living who takes no interest in the great charm of literature he may be the better pleased with these stories of lesser lights . Can we do better than

remind our readers of what we wrote in these columns fifteen years ago ? " This little volume brings us tete-a-tete with such sturdy intellects as those of Dr . Johnson , Boswell , Reynolds , Goldsmith , Burke , and a host of other ' men of the time' who in their periods of leisure sought ease and refreshment at the ' Cheese , ' and set the tables often in a roar with their pungent criticisms and flights of mirth and satire . "

The Marquis of Lossie . By George Macdonald ( 6 d ) . —Geo . Newnes , Limited . Rodney Stone . By A . Conan Doyle ( 6 d ) . —George Newnes , Limited . THESE two books well deserved issuing as cheap reprints , and it would be well for the nation if the masses who now road never

passed their time with less meritorious volumes . Mr . George Macdonald and Mr . Conan Doyle are both excellent teachers , although the latter does not profess to be a teacher at all . A volume by Mr . Macdonald is always a sermon , none the less _ efficacious because usually so interesting ; a volume by Mr . Conan Doyle -, is often a sermon also , if only the reader has the wit to know it . " The Marquis of Lossie" and " Rodney Stone" serve well to illustrate our

meaning . That the former is a . sermon in the author's very best manner few will deny , but we suspect that many persons read the latter without perceiving that there are potent truths to be learnt from a story of the good old coaching days now almost a memory only . We hope Messrs . Newnes will continue to issue such novels at sixpence from time to time , they are excellently printed , and deserve even a larger circulation than they have hitherto enjoytd .

Souvenir of Sir Arthur Sullivan , Mus . Doc , M . V . O . A brief sketch of his Life and Works . By Walter J . Wells . With portraits , facsimiles and illustrations ( 3 s 6 d ) . —Geo . Newnes , Limited . THE late Sir Arthur Sullivan did much to sweeten the lives of others during his great career , and we are glad that this souvenir is published in a manner worthy of his memory . For he would have been the first to desire that any souvenir of himself should be

Books Of The Day.

one of his friends also . Mr . Wells , in this tribute to the great musician , has also told us something of Mr . W . S . Gilbert , with whose name that of Sullivan must ever be associated . And what an association that was ! Much of what was brightest and best in music written recently for the entertainment of the public was the

outcome of this friendship , thereby fulfilling the dictum of that old dramatist who wrote that friendship should be provocative of good works . How many and how good were the works of Sullivan is known to all , or may be known to all who possess this beautiful souvenir ; for a list of his works is appended . Mr . Wells has

recorded some very pleasing episodes in the life of his friend , whose life was from the first succesful even beyond the highest hopes of himself or his relatives . Indeed , the story before us is as wonderful at the beginning as the story of Mozart ; for Sullivan , like Mozart , could play skilfully at five years of age , and before he was eight

" he had learned to play nearly every wind instrument , being , as a witty friend remarked , almost ' cradled—like Moses—among the Reeds . '" This souvenir is profusely illustrated and the facsimiles of Sullivan ' s scores are most interesting as illustrative of his careful , premeditated workmanship .

Her Majesty the Queen has been graciously pleased to accept a copy of the Edition , de Luxe of Mrs . Nevill Jackson's " History of Hand-Made Lace , " which contains actual specimens of old land fine laces .

BOOKS RECEIVED . New Century Library ( 2 s net per vol . ) . —T . Nelson and Sons . The Works of SIR WALTER SCOTT , Bart . Vol . xi ., The Abbot . Vol . xii ., Kenilworth .

Vice Versa . By F . Anstey ( 6 d ) . —George Newnes , Limited . The Broad Road that Stretches . By Cecil Hartley ( 3 s 6 d ) . —Thomas Burleigh . Arrows of the Almig-hty . By Owen Johnson . —The Macro i ' . ' an Company . . Lessons from Work . By Brooke Foss Westcott , D . D ., D . C . L ., Bishop of Durham ( 6 s ) . —Macmillan and Co ., Limited .

u u u « , . . « . u r » RXKunnnAiiRiiAiiRitJiAii No doubt many of our readers are interested in those entitled to wear War Medals ( or distinctive ribbons ) , even of they are not personally entitled to do so , and may be glad to know that Bro . Toye and Co ., of 17 Clerkenwell Road , London , E . G ., have a stock of the different regulation colours , which they supply at id per inch , or is 6 d per yard .

Ad00502

SPIERS . PONDs STORES ( No Tickets Required ) QUEEN VICTORIA STREET , E . C ., Opposite Blackfriars Station ( District Rly . ) AND St . Paul ' s Station ( L . G . & D . Rly . ) . PRICE BOOK ( 1 , 000 pages ) , illustrated , free on application . FREE DELIVERY IN SUBURBS » j / our ovOn Vans , Liberal terms for Country Orders * FOR FULL DETAILS SEE PRICE BOOK .