THE MERCY OF ALLAH.*
IT is interesting for the faithful admirers of The Adventures of Hajii Baba of Ispahan to read Mr. Hilaire Belloc's study of the Eastern adventurer up to date. Needless to say, the methods of the successful merchant Mahmoud are very little modified by the passage of time, for in the extraordinarily democratic conditions of the East the ways of personal advance- anent are much the same now as they were in the time of Mr. James Morier, or even many hundreds of years before he pre- sented his faithful portrait of the Persian barber. All the tricks of the merchant of Bagdad are merely developments ander modern conditions of the successful essays of his enter- taining precursor. It will be as difficult as ever for the Westerner to understand how a pious Mohammedan can reconcile with his conscience, and with the constant practice of his faith, the financial operation which Mr. Belloc depicts for us. Conduct and piety seem to be entirely divorced among the Faithful, and who shall say that the same is not the ease with many holders of Christianity ? The book as descriptive of ingenious knavery is entertaining reading, and we are sorry that the death of the hero in the end precludes Mr. Belloc from following his predecessor's example and taking his principal character on an Embassage to England in a later volume. We, of course, fully realize that Mr. Belloc while he " turns his Persian tale " has his eye on England and her new rich. He has contrived nevertheless to get a distinctly Eastern atmosphere into his work, be it in intention satire or parable or only plain fiction.
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