13 JULY 1907, Page 24

The Life Perilous. By Carlton Dawe. (Hutchinson and Co. 6s.)—Mr.

Carlton Dawe gives a horrible picture of the Spanish Inquisition, and the reader, as the book proceeds, will become more and more astonished that the date of the story is 1750, and not the seventeenth century. There is always an awful joy to the Protestant in reading of the mysterious powers of the Office, and Mr. Carlton Dawe presents his readers with plenty of personages clothed in long black robes and wearing hoods with only two slits for the eye-holes. The escape of the hero is entirely incredible, which does not make it any the less exciting ; but perhaps Mr. Dawe goes a little too far in realism when he describes with, suqh accuracy the racking of the Grand Inquisitor by the escaped prisoners. Readers who are not particular as to credibility, kont like a good strong sensation, will enjoy Mr. Carlton Dawe's account of a life which it is really a compliment to call only " perilous."