The Apostle of the Ardennes. By Lady Lindsay. (Kegan Paul,
Trench, and Co. 3s. 6d. net.)—Hubert the Hunter, Prince of the Ariennes, determines to follow the chase even on Good Friday. Following a milk-white hind into the recesses of the forest, he sees a vision of the crucified Christ, and receives the command to renounce his worldly life and devote himself to God. But first he must seek the counsel of Lantbert, Bishop of Maestricht. Ten years of solitary life follow; then he journeys to Rome, and is consecrated Bishoi in the place of La ntbert, who has been mur- dered. This event brings us to the end of the sixth of the seven cantos. The seventh tells the story of Hubert's death. Of the labours of the apostleship we hear next to nothing. Surely this is a mistake. The mighty hunter turned into a preacher would have made a more interesting figure than any that Lady Lindsay has given us. In fact, the poem is, both in general plan and in detail, too ornate. Elaborate descriptions of scenery, travel, and pageant—as, for instance, when Pope Sergius visits the church and finds Hubert—leave little space for the real subject. Here is an example :-- And wide the palace gates rolled back on binge, And gorgeous vestments glittered in the sun, With banners ruby-bordered held aloft. And scarlet robes, and purple, thronged the road As sallied forth the Pope's procession proud Lastly himself, borne 'neath a canopy, The richest point of splendour, iris-hued Byand all else, and starred with precious stones."
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