The Parents' Review

A Monthly Magazine of Home-Training and Culture

Books

Stories from Froissart, By Henry Newbolt (Gardner, Darton, 6/-). No one is better qualified than Mr. Henry Newbolt to present us with tales from Froissart, for he too is moved by "high patriotism for this realm of England." His introduction is singularly interesting. "From the beginning," he says, "we shall be struck with the evident persistence of national types of character": and, in truth, notwithstanding the trappings of chivalry, it is because Froissart is modern, in spite of the colour and splendour of his pages, that we read him with ever fresh delight. Chivalry was to him "but a plain rule of life," and plain things suit us in the twentieth century as in the fourteenth. Mr. Newbolt's recognition of the curse and the blessing of war, his sense that games today are as the jousts of the fourteenth century, his comforting assurance that the best things are not past, are very good to read, for we know that he notes the signs of the times. It is too late in the day for any commendation of the old knight's delightful gossip, but certainly a knowledge of the Chronicles is necessary to a sympathetic understanding of the humours of the fourteenth century. The illustrations by Gordon Browne are spirited and suggestive.

Leading Strings (Gardner, Darton, 2/-), in spite of its forbidding title, is full of bright reading and pictures which children will enjoy.

[Probably the same as Darton's Leading Strings]

Cassell's Family Magazine, 1902 (8/-), is, as usual, full of really interesting matter and good illustrations; those belonging to the story of The Diamond Necklace which wrought undeserved havoc on the fortunes of Marie Antoinette are especially good. Messrs. Cassell know how to cater for the people.

Proofread by Leslie Noelani Laurio, Feb 2009