The Necromancers. By Robert Hugh Benson. (Hutchinson and Co. 6s.)—This
story, like most of Father Benson's novels, is written with a purpose. The purpose seems to be to show the extreme danger of dabbling in spiritualism owing to the evil origin of the force involved. It is a curious thing that although unscientific investigators into spiritualistic matters occasionally fail to retain their mental balance, and so give a certain ground to the Roman Catholic attitude towards spiritualism, the leading members of the Society for Psychical Research seem • to be among the sanest people whom it is possible to meet. Taking, however, the so-called unscientific attitude towards the whole matter, and assuming a spiritual basis for the communications, it must be confessed that if the force is evil the "Devil can quote Scripture to his purpose." In this novel the works of Mr. Stainton Moses are mentioned. Any one who has ever read those productions will, we think, agree that if they were inspired by the powers of evil, those powers were for some hidden end apparently working against themselves. The spiritual communications of "Imperator" and " Rector " are filled with an uncompromising morality. It is not, on the other hand, at all difficult to imagine that these moral teachings were given out by Mr. Stainton Moses's subliminal consciousness ; but that of course is not the question in the novel before us. Father Benson has constructed his book very cleverly, and made his moral serve the purpose of his story,—a practice too of ten neglected by authors. The character of the hero, Laurie Baxter, is excellently drawn, and the girl who saves him from " possession " is equally living and credible. The-story is a good example of Father Benson's art, and, if it is to be taken as true, fully justifies the attitude of his Church towards spiritualism.
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