OTHER NOVELS.
Marietta: a Maid of Venice. By F. Marion Crawford. (Mac- millan and Co. 6r.)—Marietta was the daughter of a master glassblower living at Murano at the end of the fifteenth century. He was a hot-tempered but kind-hearted old gentleman, who priCed himself on his wonderful book of recipes for making glass of great beauty almost as much as on his charming daughter. He had a Dalmatian apprentice called Zorzi, whom he trusted to help him with his experiments, and whose genius for the art of glass-making was even greater than that of old Beroviero him- self. But by the laws of Venice no stranger was allowed to practise this art, and Zorzi was liable to penalties for having learnt so much. The Guild of Glassblowers was legally on a level with the Venetian nobles, and no one not born in the Guild was allowed to enter it. Old Beroviero wished to marry his daughter to Jacopo Contarini, the son of one of the members of the Council of Ten. The match was arranged with great pro- priety on both sides ; the craftsman wanted a great name, and the noble a great dowry, and Marietta's consent was taken for granted. However, she and Zorzi had long been in love with one another, though, like Keats' Lorenzo, " honeyless days and days did he let pass " before telling her of his love ; but her betrothal to Contarini, and the attempt of some other glass- workers to lame Zorzi, made them realise that life was useless apart from one another. The scenes between them in the garden and in the laboratory are charmingly told. They had many diffi- culties to contend with, but somehow always managed honestly to outwit those who tried to interfere with them. In contrast to their fairly quiet love is the wild passion of a Greek pirate and Contarini's Georgian slave girl. The book is full of incidents and characters, and though some others of Mr. Crawford's books are more attractive to the present writer, Marietta, with its -vivid Venetian atmosphere, makes one say with the listener to "a toccata of Galuppi's " : " It's as if I saw it all."
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