The Quiver, 1902. (Cassell and Co. 7s. 6d.)—The serial that
runs through the greater part of this volume, Mr. Baring-Gould's " Nebo the Nailer," was noticed at length some time since in the Spectator. It is not without faults, but it raises this year's volume above the average. Of "Another Man's Money," by "David Lyall," we have spoken elsewhere. But the Quiver does not depend exclusively, or even mainly, on its fiction. Its more serious matter is of unusual variety, and of a very considerable value. Of course it is im- possible to enumerate, or even to classify, what it contains. There is a really remarkable paper on the miracle of the Gadarene swine by Dr. Hugh Macmillan. The editor very prudently declines to endorse the views propounded in it. These one would shrink from propounding dogmatically, but they are suggestive. They have an aspect, not commonly presented, of the Apostles' utterance, "The whole creation groaneth and travaileth to- gether in pain." In the province of history, under the title of "Heroes of God," we have a , series of articles on some great testimonies to truth from the days of Deeius down to the days of the Covenant. In social matters we have articles on "Overcrowding," by Mr. D. L. Woolmer. It is well to bring these things before the notice of well-to-do readers as long as it is fully recognised that the problem is one of the greatest complexity and difficulty. Really cheap and roomy lodging in towns would do much to complete the ruin of the country. There are many other articles which we would gladly notice did space suffice. We must say a word on Dr. Preston's article on "Zionism." Is it contemplated to regard the whole region from the Euphrates to Egypt as the area of a future Jewish occupation? That means a very serious overturn. Then, again, is there not an understanding that the primary object of Zionism is the redemption of the Jewish people from oppressive conditions? To remove them from countries where they have all rights of citizenship would be disastrous all round. We must doubt, finally, whether Dr. Preston's view of the prophecies which he quotes is really tenable.— Cassell's Magazine. (Same publishers. 8s.)—We have noticed elsewhere, and on former occasions, sundry contents of this volume, as, for instance, Mr. Levett-Yeats's excellent novel, "The Lord Protector." This, and its companion magazine, the Saturday Journal (7s. 6d.), continue to maintain their traditional character. The first is on the higher literary plane ; the other futnishes a specially plentiful store of good things, both serious and comic. Possibly it is stronger in the comic element. But it would be difficult to find a greater bulk of readable matter at the price than is furnished in these two volumes, numbering, as they do, more than seventeen hundred pages between them.
Four volumes of extracts from historical romances illustrative of English history from the Conquest to the reign of Victoria, one or more of which have already been noticed in these columns, may be mentioned together as now forming a complete whole. They are The King's Story-book, The Queen's Story-book, The Prince's Story-book, and The Princess's Story-book, all of them edited by Mr. Laurence Gomme (Constable and Co., 3s. 6d. each). The dates of the introductions are not given except in the third in the order given above, and this is September, 1899. Mr. Gomme has chosen his matter with discretion, and has been well helped by his illustrators.—A similar volume is Stories of Early British Heroes, by C. Gasquoine Hartley (J. M. Dent and Co., 5s. net), except that the historical element recedes into the background and the romantic becomes prominent. These stories are taken from Geoffrey of Monmouth, and Geoffrey began with the coming of Brutus, of the race of Aeueas. It is too much to say that "prob- ably each story is partly true, partly made up by Geoffrey's imagination." It would puzzle the most ingenious to detect the truth portion in the story of Brutus, of which there is not so much as a hint in any ancient authority. This does not, however, matter much. The stories are good enough, and sometimes, as when we come to King Leir and his daughters Regan, Gonorilla, and Cordeilla, touched by a magician's hand, and not a little altered in the touching. Then, again, if any one wants to enliven his Caesar, he may supplement it with the story of how Androgeus quarrelled with Cassibellanne. Mediaeval Stories, by Professor Schack, translated from the Swedish by W. F. Harvey, M.A. (Sands and Co., 5s.), is a collection made, as the title-page indicates, from Swedish sources. Whether these ever touch upon actual history it would not be easy to say. There are historical personages in them, Charles the Great, for instance, who, oddly enough, describes himself as "Karl the Great, Emperor of that land which is called France." Aftek Charles we have Roland and other Paladins with him. These, we are told, were attacked by black men, so far have the Basques of the real story been changed by romance. Some of the stories am folk-lore, pure and simple. Professor Schack has given us a poi', collection and Mr. W. Heath Robinson has illustrated them well.
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