'To have confined the lives of these men and. women within one volume ig'no" mean achievement and'
Father Williamson, the Baltor, £0 congratulations not only for' the choice of subjects but also for having fblained such an impressive array fof biographers, learned and distinfuished themselves, for the task in hand, The list of writers contains names well-known in literature and Affairs: Shane Leslie, Mgr. Ronald Knox, Mgr. Peter Guilday, Laurence Meynoll, Father Martindale, of the Society of Jesus, Archbishop Goodier, Dr, W. J. O'Donovan, Dom Bede Comm, O.SB, Miss Isabel C. Clarke trid Christopher Hollis, not to mention Father Williamson himself, who writes about Francis Thompson, and the author of the absorbing ""Inroductory Essay on Biography" Which precedes the lives. One of the sketches, that of no less a person than John Dryden, is the writers were invited to "select tone character of whom they considered a new presentation was necessary or whose reputation had been overlooked on account of bias because he was a great Catholic' in the universal sense." This utterance may supply the answer to those critics who would find that the subjects fail to include some of the "greatest Catholics" such as Dante and St.
Vance. It is perhaps a pity that Coventry Patmore and Hitsire Belloc could not have been ated into the book, The world of art is represented by Augustus Welby Pugin, designer of cathedrals ang churches all over England and Ireland, and the tragic Aubrey Beardsley, whose, life-story is peculiarly moving In that it shows, Jo strange completeness within its span of twenty-six years. The account of the young artist's unqualified breach with his former life and as-sedates" and his conversion to the Catholic faith in the last year of his life, 1s a deeply stirring human document. If Beardsley's life was not outwardly remarkable, the same can~ not be said about the careers of the [Chevalier de Bayard, sans pour et /Seng reproche, Father John Murphy (called "Black Eagle of the North"
the Indian braves of Canada), and the Viscount Charles de. Foucauld, the dashing French cavalry amicer who became a priest in the North African desert that he knew so well asa. soldier—the "Marabout of Christ The Path of Converts It is remarkable in how many of these lives the Hand of God works a complete change, and peace is gained at last after long and devious wandering of the spirit, In the forty-four subjects selected for the present book, the converts are conspicuous. Tt suffices to mention Newman, Hopkins, Beardsley, Chesterton; of, to go back to the very dawn of Christianity, the most illustrious of all converts, the Soul of Tarsus who became Paul. JAmong the English-speaking races the influence of Newman, who died 1890, remains immeasurable.
She painte™ which eet beyond the pale, Her halt, waved the and, after being, pulled forward, was Kept fte undulations gathered into what, was, supposed to fers" Grecke not. fait-way up. her Bead. Size" gown of ipeial-Bink satin Foil in tastes' ola 'A book which hes the distinction of hot Including a single disagreeable character, if the misguided mother who suppressed the letters of her Jdaughter's lover be excepted—a happy book and readable.
Miss Dorothy Buck's "The Snake [Charmer" (first & Blackett, London, 12/6) has gone into its sixth thousand, sign of popularity which is not surprising, for it is light and enter-faining. The scene is laid in North Africa where a lazy but attractive widow "of French. nationality carrying on the farm her prosperous husband left her and finding amuse~ ment in her English and French bachelor neighbours, the while she leaves her three children to the care fof her English nursery governess—girl, she regrets to find far more magnetic than she had intended her to be. The unusual background, the peaceful comfortable life, the charac ters who are all very much alive, make this cheap edition of "The Snake Charmer* welcome.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.