27 FEBRUARY 1904, Page 24

The Royal Quaker. By Mrs. Bertram Tanqueray. (Methuen and Co.

6s.)—Jane Stuart, the natural daughter of James II., is the " Royal Quaker" of the title ; and the author, who frankly states that her story is fictitious except in outline, makes her heroine an attractive person. But the charm of the book lies in the details of old Quaker life with which it abounds. A sense of peaceful escape from the hurry and bustle of the modern world comes to the reader in the accounts of the calm life of the Spirit led by the Quakers, and the profound silences which occur at their meetings. The book can be recommended to those who like semi-religious stories, as a "serious" novel which is not dull.