SHEPHERD OF ISRAEL. By Leonora Eyles. (Con- stable. 7s. 6d.)-Of
all the many recent novels dealing with Biblical or historical figures, this interpretation of Moses is by far the best. That is not to say that it is wholly satisfying ; there is something inevitably incongruous about the modern English dialogue in which, for example, Moses and Aaron dis- cuss the nature of magic. But in so far as success is possible in this kind of fiction, Miss Eyles certainly achieves it. She has brought not only sound scholarship and the passion of a life- time to the task, but she has constructive imagination as dis- tinct from a merely decorative or sentimental fancy. Her descriptions are full of genuine and restrained poetic feeling, and Moses in her hands loses no whit of his prophetic grandeur. He is, however, presented as a real human being. A rational explanation is supplied for his " miracles," and he is shown as being no less of a magician because he is a natural one, com- bining with his innate genius for leadership a scientific know- ledge far in advance of his age. Scholars may disagree as to the validity of this point of view. At all events, Miss Eyles has written a very interesting, brilliant, and beautiful book.
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