The School for Saints. By John Oliver Hobbes. 8r0;, 514 pp. Unwin's Colonial Library. London: 1. Fisher Unwin, 1897.
The School for Saints, like all the work of this authoress, is extremely clever and fall of smart things, but the cynicism, which in former works seemed to point to experience which had stripped life of all its illusions, is here curiously supplemented by a tender feeling for the consolations of religion, more especially for that form of it which is taught by the Roman Catholic Church. 'The hero and heroine are both astonishingly perfect beings, wellborn, handsome, and clever, and' they are both intensely religious and find in piety their best support in the troubles which beset them. In spite of this somewhat repellent description they are not at all prigs, but engage the sympathy of the reader. It is not easy to give, in a short review, an adequate account Of A story which extends to over five hundred pages, and " very brief resume must suffice.
The hero is Robert Orange, the son of a French priest of noble birth who apastatised and married an English. woman, the mother losing her life at the birth of her only child. The son was adopted by friends and spent his childhood in the north of France. He is introduced to the family of Lord Locrine, the: British Ambassador in Paris, and becomes tutor and companion to a nephew of Lady Locrine. The Ambassador is a cleverly drawn portrait of Lord Lytton, and is described as—
Handsome in a curling way—his hair and his beard, his eyelashes, his nostrils and his moustache all curl. His talk was equally elegant and decorative. Each phrase he used was either frisé, or ondulé, and all were rfumé. He has the knack of uttering literature as though it were conversation.
The gift, too, is clearly natural; he thinks, I should say in roundels. It is a real bird; it trills because it must.
This tutorship takes Orange to England, where he meets Disraeli, and this gives the authoress an opportunity for some smart conversation. Gaining the appreciation of the statesman, he is elected a member of Parliament. Meanwhile he has fallen in love with a lady who is the daughter of the Archduke of Alberia by a morganatic marriage with an actress, and who is married off to a wretched creature called de Parflete, subs-quently found cheating at cards and consequently, by the Archduke's authority, drive away from his young wife who is plunged into despair. Madame de Parflete becomes involved in lits bene spiracy in Spain, where she is living under the protection of Countess Des seas, Hearing that she is in danger, Orange rushes off to Spain, saves her life and nearly loses his own. and then assists her to take refuge in a convent in England. News of Parflete's death enables the lovers to come together at last.
This bald statement gives a most inadequate idea of the charm of the story, which is extremely interesting, but it is not the story which is the chief attraction of the book. A few quotations will best give an idea of the smartness with which it sparkles middle-aged and selfish; his heart is a mere salad of stale emotions, and I am, for the moment, its sauce mayonnaise, Clever men think only when there is absolutely nothing else to do.
You. Protestants are always thinking of hell, You are never happy unless you can feel that all your friends are damned. It is very trieste and very rade.
fe has just enough soul to be damned, and just enough heart to suffer under damnation.
'The following is a bitter. saying, which we hope is not always true When a woman is the first and chief consideration in a man's life, or when o man becomes the first and chief consideration in a woman' life—the end, in each case will always be cruel and foolish—always an insupportable disappointment to one, or to the other, or to both.
The general tone of the book must not be judged from the above extracts., There are many tender passages of great beauty and feeling, and the book will appeal to a wide range of readers. The so-called man of the world will enjoy the smart sayings and the exposure of human weaknesses, while the pious will delight in the religi sentiment, and the frivolous will be interested in the tale. The character of Orange, with its curious' blending of religious fervour and entire manliness, is apparently intended as a type of perfection, but the authoress makes plain her conviction that her own is the superior sex, All the women are good, but most of the men leave much to be desired. The following passage is significant The man was dismayed, chilled, to seo so serious an alteration in a face and form he
The woman Joved her poor friend only ti had once thought all but irresinihly pretty. better for his disfigurement, and grow tearful at the thought of the suffering, fodily and mental, which could have produced such a shocking change.
The book is decidedly one to read and think over, and we are promised a sequel.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.