THE GREAT ROXHYTHE. By Georgette Herr. (Hutchinson. 7s. 6d. net.)—This
is a very ambitious historical romance, covering the later years of Charles H.'s reign from the Secret Treaty of Dover to the Exclusion Bill, the Rye House Ilot and the King's death. The author has &taken great pains to present in Roxhythe a man of power and charm who deliberately subordinates his better feelings to his passionate devotion to the King. His young secretary, who has a profound regard for Roxhythe, finds that there is a point at which patriotism, as he conceives it, must outweigh personal affection, but for Roxhythe there is no such limit. As a character-study Roxhythe deserves praise, but readers who are not fully versed in the politics of Charles II.'s time may find that the story drags. The author's reading of history is plausible enough and the details are sufficiently accurate. But she ought to know that people in the later Stuart a,ge did not write their letters on parchment, which was reserved, then as now, for legal documents of importance.
Previous page
