The Extraordinary Confessions of Diana Please. By Bernard Capes. (Methuen
and Co. 6s.)—Mr. Capes's new book is a very remarkable tour de force. He has created a kind of female Barry Lyndon, the adventuress without principle or pity ; or, perhaps more accurately, a female Casanova, for her guiding passion is not gain, but love. Diana Please is the daughter of a runaway French nun and a Court dandy. She is stolen by a sweep as a child, and passes through an extraordinary series of adventures, of which her immurement in a private madhouse is the most startling. Mr. Capes makes out rural England of the late eighteenth century to have been an unquiet place for any one except a great noble. Ultimately she drifts to Paris, and finally becomes involved in the insurrection at Naples, betrays her companions, aud assists at the ghastly massacres on the return of Ferdinand. She calmly watches the torture and death of her only girl friend because she had dared to steal one of her many lovers. It is not a cheerful tale, but both in style and incident it reaches a high level of artistic success in the somewhat repulsive genre to which it belongs. Mr. Capes has drawn with unswerving fidelity the portrait of a monster, and has had the acumen to make the setting fantastic enough to suit the picture. Apart from the heroine, the Bing and Queen of Naples are cleverly drawn figures, and there is an admirable sketch of Lady Hamilton.
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