The Pikemen. By S. R. Keightley. (Hutchinson and Co. 6s.)
—"Is it too soon," asks the author of this "Romanc‘of the Ards of Down," "for Romance, daughter of History to tell in her own way of the Great Rising?" Well, the fires are very near the surface. The " pikemen" of 1708 have those who are ready to take their place, unless all the eloquence of the Nationalists is an empty boast. We think it is "too soon"; for of coarse this story, the tone of which is symbolised by the green covers in which it is bound, is a passionate statement of one side. Very well written it is, a book of distinctly fine character. It would scarcely be a compliment to Mr. Keightley to say that it is of no consequence. It might conceivably be of much consequence. We do not dis- courage the reading of it. Only let it be remembered that what- ever the wrongs which kept Savage a "rebel to the last," they are but part of a very long story, a story in which there are two sides.
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