or producing an historical novel in these days when the
present rather than the past is occupying people's minds. But a good
historical novel is never really untimely, and _Morlac of Gascony_ is
not only well written but deals with a period of English history not
often exploited by the historical novelist--the days of EDWARD THE
FIRST, when the future of England as a naval power rested on the energy
and determination of the sailors of the Cinque Ports. Although _Jehan
Morlac_, the young Gascon, is the principal character in the story the
most arresting figure is that of EDWARD himself, as dexterous a piece of
character-drawing as I have come upon in historical fiction for some
time. The plot is cleverly constructed to throw a high light on one of
the most interesting personalities in the history of the English
monarchy. We see EDWARD as a young man, wild, reckless and brutal; then,
grown to his full powers and sobered by responsibility, making by sheer
force of character something abiding and coherent out of the strange
welter of warring factions from which Great Britain emerged as a united
kingdom. Wales was a hot-bed of rebellion, Scotland the "plague-spot of
the North," the Cinque Ports on the verge of going over to France. Only
a strong man, with strong men under him, could have saved England then.
_Morlac of Gascony_ is not the easy reading which many people insist on
in novels which deal with the past, and for this reason it may not be so
popular as some historical novels of far less merit; but if you are
prepared to make something of an effort to carry the trenches of the
earlier portion of the story you will have your reward.

* * * * *

I suppose that what a CRAWFORD doesn't know about Roman society may
fairly be dismissed as negligible. Therefore the name of J. CRAWFORD
FRASER (in association with Mrs. HUGH FRASER) on the title-page of _Her
Italian Marriage_ (HUTCHINSON) is a sufficient guarantee that the local
colour at least will be the genuine article. And it happens that the
scheme of the tale, the union between a Roman of the old nobility and an
American girl, makes the local colour of special significance. It was
just this matter of doing as the Romans do that _Elsie Trant_ found at
first one of life's little difficulties. There is a very pleasant scene
of the dinner-party at which she was formally presented to her husband's
family; the contrast in atmospheres between that