SAINT CATHERINE OF SIENA.
Saint Catherine of &Ma and her Times. By the Author of "Mademoiselle Mori." With 28 Illustrations. (Methuen and Co. 'Is. 6d. net.)—The fascination that clings round Catherine Benincasa is sufficient to account for any number of biographies from as many points of view. For one reason or another, perhaps because of some rather lengthy sentences, the present book has not quite the romantic—one might almost say the dashing—interest of others on the subject ; notably that delight- ful volume of Catherine's letters, with introductions and notes, which was reviewed in the Spectator some months ago. Still, the book given to us by the well-known and accomplished author of " Mademoiselle Mori" has very great merits of its own, and it will be read with interest by all who love the Italy of the fourteenth century, with its amazing history, civil and ecelesi- astical ; all who have visited Siena with open eyes and ears, and who have fallen under the spell of one of the most marvellous women that ever lived. The author has made the fullest use of a quantity of valuable material, and her book, as the title suggests, is as much a history of Papal Italy at that time as a personal account of the saintly Catherine. Its attractiveness is increased by a quantity of excellent illustrations. We could have spared, however, the head of St. Catherine as preserved at San Domenico, a relic none the lees ghastly because its authenticity is undoubted.
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