DOMNEI. By James Branch Cabell. (The Bodley Head. 7s; 64.)- - -This
is the book in which James Branch Cabell, Whe, like a tree inediaeValist, can write a cantefable of parted lovers as well as a subtilized fabliau (all being part' and parcel Of his great Cycle of Manuel), has exalted the dread and ecstasy of that unearthly passion, that " amour courtois," that doinnei," which sent Aucassin senseless among the Spears and drew Dante through the rose-thicket of the Vita Ntiiii,a." The complicated dOctrine of romantic' lover- platonism of the Middle Ages dyed wine-red as its miraculous glass—has been perfectly apprehended by Melicent the princess, and, Perion de la Fora. It is a theme long-lost even to verse; but it may come again. Meanwhile those who take comfort from strange books about heavenly matters edged With bright ironies 'already know What' a grail of love is Melieent, what a mystic' Periori ! Banners of colour hang round the story; the swords lighten, the green seas fret, and there the.Bishop of Montors goes riding, clad in red and playing a lute, and here Melusine goes drifting, her hair silvering in the wind. But the. glowing centre of Heathenesse is the palace of 'the 'Syrian proconsul Demetrios, where the lovers niet at last in a white ecstasy, purer than before. This is a beautiful book, and the sentences sing like lutes. It has a sensitive and splendid introduction by Mr. Joseph Ifergesheither,
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