The Ploughshare and the Sword. By Ernest G. Henham. (Cassell
and Co. 6s.)—The story of Quebec still exercises its fascination over the historical novelist, and it must be admitted that Mr. Henham has expressed it to some purpose. He has thrown himself into the seventeenth century with considerable success, and describes the French garrison, the reckless military priest La Salle, and the stern Berkshire yeomen who strive unaided to battle with a whole fortress and its spies and Indian allies, with some strong, quick touches of colour. The idyll of Geoffrey and Madeleine affords relief to the stern, pathetic figure of Sir Thomas Idea hunting for the slayer of his son. The old Dutchman is amusing, though he is only a passing figure. The two Indian sisters, one of whom is Sir Thomas's wife, are of the tragic type, and furnish the aboriginal colouring in the narrative. Hough's cruel justice to Omaha might surely have been omitted. Mr. Henham writes well, his characters live, and the story is wholesome. There is a lot of blood-letting, but that cannot be helped. The story has "go," plenty of enthusiasm, and some powerful characterisation, and most boys will enjoy it greatly, for it realises the Englishman of the period very clearly.
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