Revieic of Reviews, 1111106. 



Notable Books of the Month. 



517 



dramatic climax, and Benedetto's temptation in her car- 

 riage, after the feverish interview with the cabinet officer, 

 is a marvel of psychological subtlety. Both scenes illus- 

 trate Si^nor Fogazzaro's power to achieve the higlieat 

 artistic results without exaggeration. This naturalness is 

 the more remarkable because the character of a saint is 

 unnatural, according to our modern point of view. We 

 have a healthy distrust of ascetics whose anxiety over 

 their souls condition we properly regard as a form of 

 ^oUsm : and we know how easily the unco guid become 

 prigs. Fogazzaro's hero is neither an esrotist of the ordi- 

 nary cloister variety, nor a prig- That our sympathy 

 goes out to Jeanne and not to him shows that we in- 

 stinctively resent seeing the deepest human cravings sacri- 

 ficed to sacerdotal prescriptions. 



Why did Signor Fogazzaro. in choosing bis hero, revert 

 to that outward type? Wlien asked these questions by his 

 followers, he replied that he did not mean to preach 

 asceticism ;is a rule for all; but that in individual cases, 

 like Benedetto's, for instance, it was a psychological neces- 

 sity. Herein Signor Fogazzaro certainly discloses his pro- 

 tound knowiedse of the Italian heart— of that heart from 

 which in its early mediaeval vigour sprang the Roman re- 

 ligion, with its message of renunciation. 



HIS INTERVIEW WITH THE POPE. 



Mr. Thaver savs that few scenes in modern 



romance can match Benedetto*s interview with the 

 Pope, the pathetic figure who, 



you feel, is in sad truth a prisoner, not of the Italian 

 Government, but of the crafty, able, remorseless cabal of 

 cardinals, who surround him, dog him with eavesdroppers, 

 edit his briefs, check his benign impulses, and effectually 

 prevent the truth from penetrating to his lonely study. 

 Benedetto's appeal to the Pope to heal the four wounds 

 from which the Church is^lauguishing is a model of im- 

 passioned argument. The four wounds, be it noted, are 

 the spi it of falsehood, the spirit of clerical domination, 

 the spirit of avarice, and the spirit of immobility. The 

 Pope replies in a spirit of resignation; he does not dis- 

 guise his powerlessness, he hopes to meet Benedetto again 

 in heaven. 



A GREAT BOOK. 



In concluding his most interesting analysis of the 

 novel. Mr. Thayer says: — 



Such a book, sprung from '" no vain or shallow thoua-ht." 

 holding in solution the hopes of many earnest souls, 

 spreading before us the mighty spiritual conflict between 

 Mediaevalism still triumphant ana the young undaunted 

 Powers of Lis-ht, showing us with wonderful lifelikeness 

 the tragedy of man's baffled endeavour to establish the 

 Kingdom of God on earth, and of woman's unquenchable 

 love, is a great fact in the world- literature of our time. 



LEADING BOOKS OF THE MONTH. 



RELIGION, PHILOSOPHY, EDUCATION, ETC. 



Genesis aod Exodus as History. Jumes Thomas 



(Sonnenschein) 6/0 



St. Marli. J. C Du Brisson (Methuen) net 2/6 



Persecution in the Early Church. H. B. Workman 



(Kelly) 3/6 

 The German Universities. F. Paulsen. Translated by 



F. Thilly and W. W. Elwang (Longmans) net 15/3 



HISTORY, POLITICS, TRAVEL, ETC. 



The Book ot ilackay. Angus Mackay 



tMacleod. Edinburgh) 

 Explorations in the Century. C. G. D. Eoberts 



(Chambers) net 5/0 

 The Thames. Mortimer Menpes and G. E. Mitton 



(Black) net 20/0 

 From a Darlmoor Cat. W. Crossing 



(Homeland and Association) net 7/6 

 yuaint and Historic York. E. E. Tate and G. Benson 



(Ba'.sford) net 7/6 

 Yorkshire D.iles and Fells. Gordon Home 1 Black) net 7/6 

 The Silver Age of the Greek World. J. P. Mahaffy 



(Unwin) net 13/6 

 Roman Imperialism. W. T. Arnold 



{University Press, Manchester) net 7/6 

 Queen Louisa of Prussia. Mary M Moffat Methuen) net 7/6 

 A Book of the Rhine. Rev. S. Baring-Gould ... (Methuen) 6/0 

 (Jld Fort William in Bengal. C. R. Wilson 



(Murray) net 24'0 

 Colombia. F. L. Petre ^ (i^tanford) net 8/6 



SOCIOLOGY. 



Administrative Reform and the Local Government 



Board. J. T. Dodd (King) net 1/6 



London Statistics. 19:j5-6 iKing) 5/0 



Glimpses into the Abyss. Mary Higgs (King) net 3/6 



Wealth and Welfare. C. L. Eaper (Macmillan) net 4/6 



Dairy Farming. F. L Puxley (Upcott Gill) 3/6 



ART, ARCHITECTURE. 



Modern Buildings. Vol. m. G. A. T. Middleton 



(Oaxton Publishing Co.) net 10/6 



MUSIC 



Progress of Art in the Century. William Sharp 



(Chambers) net 5/0 



LITERARY BIOGRAPHY, ESSAYS. 



Manual of Practical Bibliography. J. D. Brown 



(Routledge) 2/t 

 Old English to Jacobean Literature. G. E. and W. H. 



Hadow (Frowde) 3/6 



William Blake. A. C Swinburne (Chatto) net 6/0 



From St. Francis to Dante. G. G. Coulton ... (Nutt) net 10/6 



POEMS, DRAMAS. 



Introduction to Good Poetry. E. F. Davidson iBlackie) 1/6 



English Sonnets (Wellwood) net 12/6 



Poems. K. J. Eerr (Cornbridge, Dublin) 1/0 



Poems. C. H. Prichard iStockwell) net 1/0 



Songs from a Surrey Garden. T. F. Veasey 



(Stockwell) net 0/9 



Prom Her to H'm. (Poem.) Dr. G. H. Tt. Dahbs (Deacon) 2/6 

 Psyche and Soma. (Drama.) Wellen Smith 



(Richards) net 3/6 

 The Taking of Capri. (Drama.) Algernon Warren 



(Stockwell) net 1/0 



.\nacreon. Translated by T. Stanley (Bullen) net 6/0 



NOVELS. 



Askew. Alice and Claude. The Etonian (White) 6/0 



Butler. Marv. The Ring of Day (Hutchinson) 6/0 



Caine. Hall Drink (Newnes) 0/6 



Cipes. Bernard. A Rogue's Tragedy (Methuen) 6/0 



Cobb, Thomas. Collusion (Rivers) 6/0 



Hardingham. E. Hugh Leventhorpe (Simpkin) 6/0 



Hvne, C. P. Cutcliffe. Trials of Commander McTurk 



(Murray) 6/0 



Le Queux, W. Tlie Invasion of 1910 (Nash) 6/0 



Maartens, Maarten. The Woman's 'Victory, etc. 



(Constable) 6/0 



Mann. Mary E. The Eglamore Portraits (Methuen) 6/0 



Marsh. Richard. In the Service of Love (Methuen) 6/0 



Mathers, Helen. Tally Ho! (Methuen) 6/0 



Maxwell. W. B. The Guarded Flam© (Methuen) 6/0 



Moberlv, L. G. Hope, My Wife (Ward, Lock) 6/0 



Steel, Flora Annie. A Sovereign Remedy ... (Heinemann) 6/0 



Twain, Mark. Eve's Diary (Harper) net 2/0 



■Wliite, F. M. The Corner House (Ward. Lock) 6/0 



Yosall, J. H. Beyond the W.Ul (Hutchinson) 6/0 



SCIENCE. 



Progress of Science in the Century. J. A. Thompson 



(Chambers) net 5/0 

 Wild Life in East Anglia. W. A. Dutt ... (Methuen) net 7/6 

 Founders of the Oheniical Industry. J. F Allen 



'Sherratt and Hughes) 5/0' 



