THE IMMORTAL MARRIAGE. By Gertrude Atherton. (John Murray. 7s. 6d.
net.)—The historic novel is always with us, but Miss Gertrude Atherton in her heroic tale of ancient Greece boldly throws over all archaic models. Yet it is difficult to feel that the story lives or that the characters, most of whom are weighed down by the posthumous burden of immortal fame, have any of the qualities of their prototypes, excepting their names. Pericles, Aspasia, Socrates, Pheidias, Sophocles move and talk like shades in the Elysian fields. As a study of the conditions of domestic life in the Golden Age of Athens the book is more successful however, and will make the reader, according to sex, regretful or thankful that so many centuries separate the civilization of to-day from that which distinguished that era. Is there not a story of Renan who, when told that the Greeks were mere mimics and had borrowed their art from their predecessors in the ancient world, remarked, " True, they invented nothing- seulement le beau ? " Their love of beauty certainly developed into a snare, as Miss Atherton's unflinching descriptions of certain phases of their public life reminds us. Careful as is the writing and construction of this immensely long novel, it cannot be called an entire success, for it lacks that one touch of divine fire which would kindle it into life. Without this touch it remains an admirable academic study.
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