THE LILY OF LOMBARDY. By Helen H. Colvill. (Melrose. 7s.
8d.)—Unlike most writers of historical romance, Miss Colvill, in attempting to reconstruct the domestic life of Milan in the sixteenth century, is too sparing of objective description. She takes too much for granted. Here is a novel introducing a number of real characters, well known to the student, but unfamiliar to the average reader ; and those characters do not emerge with clear enough definition. The central figure is Gian Battista, son of Giro- lamo Carden, one of the most distinguished European physicians of his day. Battista inherits his father's genius: but his horoscope predicts that he will have trouble with women, and the story describes how his career is ruined find prematurely ended by his passion for the beautiful " Lily of Lombardy," a cobbler's daughter of easy virtue. There are moments of tense drama, as in the account of. Battista's trial for murder ; and many of the scenes and conversations quietly and charmingly suggest the Renaissance atmosphere. If the book is disappointing as a whole, it is because Miss Colvill's very considerable gifts compel us to judge it by 110 standards. Miss Colvill is an artist in the making, and she
will give us better work. - -
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