18 JULY 1903, Page 22

The Socialist and the Prince. By Mrs. Fremont Older. (Funk

and Wagnalls Company. 6s.)—The Socialist in this book is a decidedly clever study, the Prince is too melodramatic and ridiculous for words. This produces an odd sensation in the reader's mind, as the book seems to be in strata,—first an inter- esting, then a bad, absurd episode being set before him. The scene of the story is laid in San Francisco in the "seventies," which gives it a certain interest. But on the whole the absurdity is stronger that the interest, and he will be a persevering reader who can stand much of Prince Alessandro Ruspoli.