Sancta Paula. By Walter Copland Perry. (Swan Sonnenschein and Co.
69.)—How admirable would be the result if the writers of fiction in general would equip themselves for their task as Mr. Perry has done! He has made "a complete study of the works of Jerome" to prepare himself for the characterisation of his heroine. And he has drawn from Gibbon, Milman, Thierry, and other grave writers. Novelists would find more than they think in Jerome,—and the output would certainly be limited. We must own that for the average reader Sancta Paula is just a little over- loaded with learning. Mr. Perry is too conscientious. The reader would have taken it for granted that the Romans ate scollops, mussels, storks, curlews, and squirrels without demanding the Latin names of these delicacies. We are reminded as we read of
Charicles " and "Gallus," compounded of one-twentieth of story and nineteen-twentieths of archaeology. But we need hardly say that the book is worth reading, even if it does require something of an effort. The writer succeeds in giving us a picture, over- crowded, it may be, with details, but vivid and impressive, of a strange time ; and he has not failed in 'drawing the dominant figures of Jerome and Paula.
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