Jan van Elselo. By Gilbert and Marion Coleridge. (Macmillan and
Co. 6s.)—Mr. and Mrs. Coleridge take us to the romantic shores of sixteenth-century Holland in their novel, which has the further irresistible attraction of the frequent appear- ances of William of Orange. Historically the novel ends in the crisis of the struggle of the Netherlands, but the love-story is brought to a satisfactory conclusion. The book is a little scrappy and disjointed, the England of Elizabeth, Holland, and Spain all appearing in turn as the scene of action, with the result that the general effect is a little sketchy and a little hurried. Of course the realer is treated to the auto-de-fe usual in novels which deal with the Spain of this date, but the hero is on this occasion merely a spectator of the scene. The book may be called
readable, but it does not rise to a very high level. .
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