Mercury (Hobart, Tas. : 1860 - 1954), Tuesday 9 June 1903, page 3


REVIEWS.

"Pearl Maiden "-By H Rider Haggard (Longman's Colonial Librarj). Messrs J. Walch and Sons «end us a copy of this tale of the fall of Jerusalem Many will be in-clined to rare it as one of the best, if not the very best, of the author's efforts It is a tale of true dramatic interest, based on a well-woxn themo, the persecutions of Christians by Jews, the persecution of the latter by rapacious Romans. The centre figure is a bright maiden, to whom the sect called Essenes pay homage as their queen Love to her brings suffering, but in the end the many trials, dangers, and tempta-tions that she and her friends endure work together for good to them, and she weds the noble Roman -who, an his great love for her joins the Christian brother-hood, after he had believed her dead. Thus, none could say he had changed his faith to win a woman, nor could they say of the maiden that the command laid upon her protectors by the dead mother had been broken. Interwoven in the warp of the story aro many curious wefts

"All on the Irish Shore" By the author of "Some Experiences of an Irish RM," by E H Somerville and Martin Ross Longman's, Green, and Co's Co-lonial Library (Hobart, J. Walch and Sons) To Irish tales there is no end. The fount of humour is perennial, but in its continuance there is somohmes monotony. The present volume.to some extent, breaks new ground The pervading element is hotrsiness. There is scarcely a pago m which the humour of the story does not turn upon this theme, and it must be said that it never palls The scenes depicted are all evidently taken from actual life, and scarcely need tho exaggeration of af-fective story-telling to carry most amus-ing convinoemont. Lovers of the chase will revel in the fox hunting scenes The last paragraph in the story splendidly epitomises all that goos before It tolls ot a han>e-dealing episode at Brandon fair -"From behind a mound of mutton chops a buyer shoved a roll of dirt} one pound notes round the potato dish, and, after duo haggling, received baok one, ac-cording to the mystic Irish custom of 'luckpenny ' On the sofa, two fanners carried on a transaction, m which the snap of a colt, loot money, and luckpenny were blended in one trackless maze

of astuteness and arithmetic On the wall above them, a print, in which Ana-nias and Sapphira were the central figures, gave o simple and suitable finish to tho

scene."

"Youth and Duty Sermons to Harrow Schoolboys " By the Rt Rev J E C Welldon, D D , Canon of Westminster, late headmaster of narrow School (Lon-don, the Religious Tract Society) This volume will have 6omo special interest for Australian inghcans, os Dr Welldon was lately offered the Seo of Melbourne, and declined it He was head master of Har-row from 1855 to 1=93, when he was ap-pointed BiJioD of Calcutta ne resigned that Seo reccnilv The volume before us comprises twenty sermon«, t vo or three of which wore preached elsewhere than at Harrow The sormons are specimens of elegant English composition, in which thoro is little of dogmatic theologj It is to bo noted that, in the eighth sermon, "Followers of the Lamb," founded on Revelation xiv , 4, the preacher ignores the very point of the text, probably from (many will think) a false sensitivoness, when moro candour might be valuable to young men with life beforo thom.