The Review's Bookshop. 



411 



rh„i.< 



ra^h /'!■] \Mackfmif, Ciasri^- 



Mr. David Ogg. 



rise and fall of kings and emperors. The work is care- 

 fully done, and the subject is of sufficient importance 

 to warrant more extended treatment. Strangely 

 enough, the history of the old " John Company " has 

 attracted few historians. 



BIOGRAPHY. 



Cardinal de Relz, by David Ogg (Methuen. 6s. net). 

 Mr. Ogg's style — moderate and judicious — is in strong 

 contrast to the disordered career of the unruly Co- 

 adjutor. The 

 uthor has satis- 

 fied himself that 

 the Cardinal's 

 eminence is en- 

 titled to his tri- 

 bute, and we 

 are not mo\ed 

 to disagree. One 

 may. however, 

 wonder that men 

 without moral 

 scruple were so 

 consistently the 

 chosen repre- 

 sentatives of the 

 Church, and 

 trust that a[)0- 

 logists will not 

 be necessary to 

 explain the riddle to a later generation. Perhaps 

 the career of Di- Retz goes far to explain the " irreli- 

 gion " of a nation which had the advantage of so 

 distinguished a churchman. 



The Life and Work of Frank Holl. by .'\. M. Reynolds 

 (Methuen. 12s. 6d. net). This record of a life-work 

 happily escapes the many weaknesses which often 

 characterise the self-impo.sed task of friends and 

 relatives. Mrs. Reynolds reveals her father as the man, 

 born artist, yet serving a life apprenticeship to his 

 art. and the reader seems to feel that even to liis 

 daughter her h<ro is painter first and parent after- 

 wards. However that may be, one appreciates the 

 transmitted instinct of the famous portrait painter, 

 for such this book is in its clear presentment of. a 

 sincere personality. Few aspirants to Academy honours 

 so completely ignored the petty .spites, jealousies and 

 artificialities which consumed many of his contem- 

 poraries. Neither adulation nor flattery will l)c found 

 in these faithful pages, in which one only misses a 

 reproduction of all the pictures in which the reader 

 shares the author's interest. 



Napolfon : Our J.a\l Great Man, by Elystan M. 

 Reanlsley (Digby Loiif; and Co. 2S. M. net). The 

 Corsican's record is very plain, but some folk must ha\(' 

 their enthusiasms, and we can only be ijraleful when it 

 takes so innocent a form a.s admiration for a dead hero. 

 .Some would write " villain," l>ut only if they hardened 

 their heart to the picturesque colouring of this modest 

 panegyric. 



St. Clare and Her Order : A Story of Seven Centuries, 

 by the author of " The Enclosed Xun " (Mills and Boon. 

 7s. 6d. net). Francis and Clare, neighbours and play- 

 mates at Assisi ! Their lives are known of all, but one 

 may be forgiven the passing fancy of divesting them of 

 their high mission and imagining " what might have 

 been " if more human passions had ruled their destiny. 

 It mav surprise some to know that on the estimate of 

 one author there are 10.000 Poor Clares living in 

 seclusion to-day, in F.ngland and elsewhere, whose 

 dcxotion to their prayers has berea\ed the wider world 

 of their wealth of love and .service as mothers, and 

 helpers of weaker brethren. 



TR.-WEI., ETC. 



The New China : A Traveller's Impressions. I>y 1 1 . 

 Rorel. translated from the Dutch by C. T. Thieme 

 (T. Fisher Unwin los. 6d. net). The title is somewhat 

 misleading, and 

 the excellent il- 

 lustrations aid 

 in the decep- 

 t i o n , for a 

 casual glance 

 would hardK' 

 suggest the real 

 quality of Mr. 

 1^ ore Is narra- 

 t i V e. T h c 

 author was for 

 many )ears 

 official Chincsi 

 interpreter in 

 the Dutch East 

 Indies, a n cl 

 doubtless the 

 reader owes 

 much to this 

 achantage, but 

 still more to an 

 unusuall)- sym- 

 pathetic insif;ht 



into the mental proces.ses of the Oriental mind. 

 Whatever else the book may be, and it is many things, 

 it is hardly a book of travels ; Mr. Borel certainly 

 journeys to Peking, but ignoring the painful signs of 

 modern progress in the Forbidden City, he rediscovers 

 the city of his dreams, and in his interpretation of 

 China of the Ages he suggests the surest way of 

 anticipating' the China that is to be. The globe-trotter 

 has viewed all that .Mr. Horel has seen, but the interest 

 of " New China " is the relif,'ious appreciation of the 

 spirit whidi is only revealed to those who can feel its 

 " subtle vibration and can respond." The book is not 

 without its deep signi(ican<e to Britons who value 

 their possessions in the East, but the author fairly 

 revels in thrills which will be shared by the reader. 

 Mis descri])tion of his visit to the r.ama Temple i.s one 

 of the finest passages we have read for many a long day. 

 The translator is to be congratulated on a most satis- 

 factory performance. 



Borel. 



