FICTION
BELLARION. By Rafael Sabatini. (Hutchinson. 7s, Ocl: net.)--An adventurer of the early years of the fifteenth cen- tury, Bellarion is revealed as scholar, politician, military strategist and lover. Mr. Sabatini presents him with so much liveliness and skill, keeps his career moving forward an in- evitably and so excitingly, that the reader falls in love with him after very few pages and relinquishes him unwillingly at the last. He had faults : enemies might have called him crafty and a physical coward. But what appeared in him as Cunning and cowardice Was obviously an allowable defect in a brilliant character. He is a very human hero, all of a piece, unconquerable, and compels admiration. Bellarion was a nobody's child, reared by the Church for the Church. Chance sets him one day among thieves, and his escape from these plunges him in the very middle of political intrigue. The Lady Valeria, sister of a local potentate, deplorably under the thumb of a cricked Regent, enlists his help. So great is his ingenuity that she loses confidence in him. Tremendous fights, escapes, spyings, occur. Bellarion is hunted by dogs, and confronted by the fearsome Faeino Cane, bravest condottiere of Milan. The gruff soldier adopts him, trains him in war- craft, and plunges him into the troubled court life of Milan. His genius for Military strategy is displayed early, and slowly the Waif proves himself the greatest general in Italy. He works always for the Lady Valeria, though she as persistently detests and suspects him. Mr. Sabatini's canvas is huge, and. teems with petty princes, courtiers, soldiers, armies sad landscapes. Yet, while attention is focused and held on the chief characters, all else in the huge perspective is clear and admirable. There are no pages of dull description or history. It is a first-rate adventure story, and the author starts "sharply with adventures, and floats his tale swiftly and easily along from one colourful and arresting crisis in the affairs of his hero to another. It makes breathless and delightful reading.
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