Review of Eeviews, 111,113. 



NOTABLE BOOKS. 



199 



de Laon " that some 30,000 placed them- 

 selves under Stephen's orders. 



Before they reached Marseilles, along 

 the road people and children had been 

 asking, " But how are we to cross the 

 sea?" God wills it, He will provide the 

 way, was the answer. Then comes the 

 terrible sequel. In front of the children 

 was the sea and no miraculous convey- 

 ance. Two men, Hugue Ferri and Gil- 

 laume de Porqueres, came to the leaders 

 of the despairing children to tell them 

 that they had seven boats ready to carry 

 them across the sea, and that it would 

 be done for the love of God, without 

 payment. These infamous men had 

 quite another purpose. In those days 

 there was a big slave market m Asia 

 Minor, and at Bagdad white children 

 were eagerly bought. Of all that crowd 

 of children few ever again reached their 

 native land, fewer still their own homes. 

 The Crusade was not confined to 

 France ; some of the children fell by 

 the road, and were taken in by friendly 

 hands m other countries, and some few 

 were liberated from slavery many years 

 after ; some died under the torture in- 

 flicted because they would not give up 

 their religious faith. 



Mr. Begbie has revived this forgotten 

 story of a terrible catastrophe. Even 

 in encyclopc-edias no mention is made 

 of it. Buried in old-fashioned French 

 history, tne story may be found, and we 

 have it given here, dressed in fictitious 

 robes, but substantially historical. The 

 figures stand out clearl) . A moving 

 story of one of the strangest events m 

 history. 



A NOVEL OF GEORGIAN DAYS. 



Mrs. Lancdot By Maurice Hewlett. 

 (Century.) 



The author has, we gratefully notice, 

 forsaken the monotonous and loud- 

 mouthed Senhouse. In this novel of 

 Georgian days, the problem is the ad- 

 justment not' of the usual triangle, but 

 of a quadrangle. There is one woman 

 — a pale, aristocratic lad)', not sketched 

 with Mr. Hewlett's old-time vigour, and 

 three men. The husband, Charles 

 Lancelot, is a starched and passionless 

 Government employee, who for the 

 sake of advancement, subjects liis wife 

 to the dangers of friendshiji with the 



great Duke of Devizes. But this Ilew- 

 lettian Marquis of Steyne is less vicious 

 and less successful than Thackeray's 

 immortal villain, and so Mr. and Mrs. 

 Lancelot enjoy the Duke's protection 

 with some scandal but no real harm, 

 until the third man appears — one Ger- 

 vaise Poore. He is a poet, as hot- 

 headed and absurd as his fellow crafts- 

 man in " The Song of Renny," and he 

 finally captures Mrs. Lancelot and takes 

 her off to listen to his poems (which, 

 judging from the samples Mr. Hewlett 

 gives, are hopelessly bad) in a cottage 

 in Italy. Mr. Lancelot and the Duke 

 follow, but retire abashed after hearing 

 Poore's four-page speech on the ethics 

 of love. In this speech Poore delivers 

 himself of what may be considered Uis 

 book's moral — if your husband neglects 

 you, elope with a poet. This solution is 

 interesting, but not always practicable. 



A MAARTENS' NOVEL. 



Eiw. By Maarten Maarrens. (Dutton.) 

 There is marital unhappiness in 

 " Eve," but the story, is on the whole 

 plausible and wholesome. Eve is 

 brought up in a fantastic household 

 from which all unpleasant realities are, 

 so far as possible, deliberately ex- 

 cluded. She is not taught the meaning 

 of sorrow. But after her marriage to 

 the virtuous but prosaic Rutger Knoppe, 

 who is obsessed with political ambi- 

 tions, she finds sorrow enough. She 

 falls in love with a young aviator. But 

 this passion proves her salvation. For 

 after tem])tations peculiarly difficult to 

 resist, she resolves that it is her duty 

 to confess to her husband this guilty 

 affection, and, the aviator being dead, 

 she does so. Then she leaves him, to 

 seek in a convent " the peace we can 

 regain." The dangers of an education 

 which does not furnish knowledge of 

 the difficulties and pitfalls of life is 

 well brought out, and the necessity of 

 confidence between husband and wife 

 demonstrated. The development by 

 suffering of the heroine's character from 

 that of a frivolous girl to that of a 

 courageous and sincere woman is skil- 

 fully shown. Incidentall)' there is given 

 an excellent picture of modern Dutch 

 life, and some convincing studies of 

 religious psychology. 



