With this interesting book it is natural that we should
notice Mr. Cuthbert Hadden's succinct and often spiritedly written Nelson Navy Book, an epitome of all that we prize most in our naval history. Divided, as the volume is, into chapters which contain the principal wars, some of the principal circumnavigations, and a few outstanding incidents such as the story of the ' Revenge,' and others not so well known as that. famous fight, it seems invidious to criticise where there is much to praise ; but one cannot help thinking that more might have been said about the great fights with the Dutch. Some of the toughest battles ever fought took place in the three Dutch Wars, and the Dutch proved themselves as good fighters as ourselves, and over and over again handsomely beat us. Also in the account of the American War Mr. Hadden does not give the respective armaments of the ' Shannon' and the ' Chesapeake.' We do not like even the shadow of anything that does not seem giving due honour• where honour is due. The book is well illustrated, and contains matter always interesting as long as there is salt-water.
Nephew Jack. By G. Manville Fenn. (S.P.C.K. 6s.)—Mr. Manville Fenn's passion for dialogue knows no bounds, and there is a remarkable instance of it in Nephew Jack. Uncle Dick, who is for ever cruising in search of a fortune, comes home to see his brother for a holiday. He has a new craze, and his brother, a collector of Chinese curiosities, falls in love with tho " will-o'-the-wisp " mineral, the whereabouts of which a China- man has hinted to Uncle Dick. The "Chop" turns up himself in the quiet English village and creates a sensation. He is haunted by another skipper, who wishes to secure the man and his guidance. An attempt to kidnap him fails, and then the expedition starts. The end of this we leave to readers of. Nephew Jack to find out. The first part of the book, notwithstanding the interminable, though most natural, dialogues between Jack and his uncle, is stirring and real. Richard Carr's boyish delight in renewing his youth—stickleback-fishing, &c.—is good in its way, but it tires one. Most of it surely could be taken for granted, and Mr. Manville Fenn can describe incidents so well that, unless he is jealous of giving us too much, we fail to under- stand why he smothers the really exciting period which elapses before the hunted Chinaman is got safely aboard the Whaup.' Mr. Fenn's atmosphere, whether in the Hertfordshire village, in the Port of London, or in the China seas, is real and convincing, though we cannot help thinking Webster P. Pullar's acceptance of Uncle Dick's statement of the nature of "Chop's" discovery and general "climb down" at the last just a little weak. It is a prelude, however, to showing a united front to the common enemy. If boys do not mind the dialogues—and some we know will not read them—they will be delighted with poor "Chop," Smithson the gruff mate, and the all-pervading air of freedom and adventure so character- istic of a sailing-vessel bound on a voyage of discovery. The illustrations are excellent.
The Adventures of Val Daintry. By 0. L. Going. (R.T.S 3s. 6d.)—Val Daintry is a very strenuous young hero, and the opportunities of distinguishing himself are so thrust upon him by Dame Fortune that the ingenuous reader will be inclined to sniff occasionally. One knows how war develops and hardens a boy, but Val is a veteran at seventeen. Still, there is nothing uncon- vincing about him, and the instinct of the leader and the influence he gains over his company of Greek Irregulars seem to develop naturally enough. Young Daintry, destined for the berth of a corresponding clerk in Crete, after sundry adventures gets drawn into the Graeco-Turkish War, and, having by his presence of mind saved a Greek cruiser from being blown to „pieces, has a commission given him in the Irregulars of Andrea Levandros. And now follows what older boys will call the best ,part of the story,—to wit, a really admirable sketch of the war, or as much of it as was possible for our hero to see. All this is com- bined with plenty of stirring adventure ; but Mr. Going describes the retreats, the fearful panic at Larissa, and the degrading scenes that followed the retreat with even more vigour than -the fights. There is no lack of spirit, however, in the account of the defence of Mount Kritivi and Kelestino, and the holding of the Monastery of San Stephans.s. Perhaps the finest thing in the book is the death of Andrea Levandros, alone but for his plucky English subordinate. This is a tale to do a boy good, and all the more that it shows the gloomy as well as the stirring side of war; indeed, nowhere will a boy find a more readable account of the Graeco-Turkish War of 1897.
Molly and her Brothers. By Mabel Earle. (Blackie and Son. -2s. 6d.)—Molly and her elder brother, an assayer, go west to Boulder Gulch, a move which coincides with the disappearance of Archie, the younger brother, and the simultaneous loss of $1,200 from the bank. He is suspected, but the case is hushed up. The real interest of the story centres in the life at Boulder Gulch. If Miss Mabel Earle has not hitherto appeared in print, we must congratulate her on the really vivid and natural sketch she gives of the life and surroundings of a mining gulch. It is only a sketch, but the air, the spirit of the scene, the typical freedom of the life, are there. Molly herself is a capable, plucky little woman determined to have a home of her own for Austin, notwithstanding the offer of their kind hostess, the superin- tendent's wife. It is all very clearly and simply told, with hints of the scenery and the characteristically wild background afforded by the locality. " All's well that ends well," and Archie—but we will say no more than that he appears in dramatic fashion, though the honours, as becomes the heroine, must remain with Molly. It is a healthy, a pretty, and a well-told story, and will give young readers a very fair notion of the circumstances of daily life in " Boulder Gulches " generally.
A Daughter of the Ranges. By Bessie Merchant. (Blackie and Son. 3s. 6d.)—Girls and boys will gather some facts of ranching life in the North-West from the account of the Masons' ranch on the Tentover Range, though not perhaps very clearly. But the author brings out sharply enough the active, busy outdoor life girls have to lead on a cattle ranch. There are two "daughters of the ranges," so to speak, for Helen Rowlands adapts herself quickly to her new surroundings. The villain appears early on the scene, and is, we regret to say, a disreputable parent. His repentance comes, though somewhat late, and the cause of his enmity to the Mason family, hitherto rather cleverly concealed, is made patent. He and the horse-thieves, though slightly drawn, leave, it must be confessed, a more definite outline in the reader's mind than some of the more important characters in the book. The North- West mounted policeman is, however, a fine character, strong, stern as to his duty, but gentle and courteous withal. We can recommend him and Caryl Mason as a very respectable hero and heroine for young readers, who will find it difficult to decide -which has the more grit of the two.
In God's Garden: Stories of the Saints for Little Children. By Amy Steedman. (T. C. and E. C. Jack. 6s. net.)—We do not care to criticise this book in detail. It is well meant and, in a certain way, well executed. But it would have been better, we think, to have made the selection on a different principle,—to have kept legend and history apart. It seems absurd, one might even say mischievous, to put Augustine of Hippo and St. Christopher on the same level. The latter is the subject of a -very beautiful and significant story ; the former was one of the world's greatest men. The two things are not in part niateria. 'The children for whom these stories are meant will grow up, and, it may well happen, grow up with a certain confusion between fact and fable that in these days is likely to be very harmful.
A Bevy of Girls. By L. T. Meade. (W. and R. Chambers. 6s.)—Does it ever occur to Mrs. Meade that she is writing too much? Only extreme haste would make a writer so well versed in social matters speak of introducing ladies to a gentleman (p. 511) and write "luxurious hair" when she means luxuriant. But this is not all. The real subject of this story is the relations of the Aldworth family. Mrs. Aldworth is a chronic invalid. She has a stepdaughter who is possessed with a sense of duty and three spoilt, selfish daughters of her own. This is a situation which might have been worked out in an effective tale. But the dramatic unity is lost in the episodes; the theft of the sovereign, for instance, and the visit of Angela to her old home. We suspect that the cause is the inexorable demand for a hundred thousand words when seventy-five thousand would have sufficed. Phantastes : a Faerie Romance for Men and Women. By George Macdonald. (A. C. Fifield. 4s. 6d. net.)—We heartily welcome this new edition of Phantastes, edited by Dr. Grevillo Macdonald, the author's son. The book itself it is superfluous to praise. It is not possible to do better than adopt the words of his son, that "it rings with the dominant chord of the author's purpose and work." But this edition has an attraction of its own. It has found the most suitable of illustrators in Mr. Arthur Hughes, who has thus had an opportunity of showing in a visible form the sympathetic friendship which existed between him and the author. "The illustrations are a part of the romance," as the editor puts it, and it now appears as its admirers would like to see it.
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