The Historical Nights' Entertainment. By Rafael Sabatini. (Martin Seeker. 6s.)—Only
a few of these sketches are really concerned with crimes committed in the course of a single night, though the inclusion of the others in the same series is colourable. The scenes of the episodes described cover most of Europe, and if some, such as " The Murder of Rizzio " and the celebrated episode of " The Diamond Necklace," are very well known, others will be more familiar to the student of history than to the general public. The author's whitewashing of Cesare Borgia is certainly ben trorato. Whether it is justified is quite another matter. The most horrible of the stories is concerned with the Black Mass attended by -Mme. de Montespan ; but the account c f Carrier's drownings at Nantes perhaps runs it hard. The author is very successful in giving a suggestion of atmosphere to each study, which is more or less of a feat in a series ranging over so wide a field both in date and country.
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