Hannibal Once More
Vice-President of The Royal Geographical Society; Treasurer of the Hellenic and Roman Societies; formerly President of the Alpine Club; Author of “The Exploration of the Caucasus,” “Round Kinchinjunga,” etc.
In this little volume Mr. Freshfield has put into final shape the results of his study of the famous and still-debated question: “By which Pass did Hannibal cross the Alps?” The literature which has grown up round this intricate subject is surprisingly extensive, and various solutions have been propounded and upheld, with remarkable warmth and tenacity, by a host of scholars, historians, geographers, military men, and mountaineers. Mr. Freshfield has a solution of his own, which, however, he puts forward in no dogmatic spirit, but in such a fashion that his book is practically a lucid review of the whole matter in each of its many aspects. To an extensive acquaintance with ancient and modern geographical literature he unites a wide and varied experience as an alpine climber and a traveller, and a minute topographical knowledge of the regions under discussion; and these qualifications—in which many of his predecessors in the same field of inquiry have been conspicuously lacking—enable him to throw much new light on a perennially fascinating problem.
The Life of Admiral Sir Harry Rawson, G.C.B., G.C.M.G.
By LIEUT. GEOFFREY RAWSON, R.I.M.
This book, which has been written by a relative of the late Admiral Sir Harry Rawson, gives a deeply interesting account of the Admiral’s long and varied career in China, the Near East, Africa and Australia.
Entering the Navy as long ago as 1857, when the sailing ship still held the seas, Sir Harry, as a young cadet, thirteen years of age, took part in the China War of 1858-60, being present in the Calcutta’s launch at the capture of the Taku forts.
In 1863, when only nineteen years of age, he held Ning-po for three months against the rebels, with 1,300 Chinese troops under his command. He served for two commissions as Commander of the battleship Hercules, and acted as Flag-captain in both the Channel and Mediterranean Squadrons.
During the Egyptian Campaign of 1882, he acted as principal Transport officer, and after his promotion to Flag rank, was appointed Commander-in-Chief on the Cape Station, 1895-98. Whilst holding this important position, he landed the Naval Brigade which captured Mweli, the stronghold of a rebel Arab chief; part of his squadron bombarded the palace at Zanzibar; and, in 1897, he commanded the famous expedition for the capture of Benin, which was successfully accomplished.
For more than two years he commanded the Channel Squadron, and the work contains a chapter devoted to the naval manœuvres of 1900.
The book terminates with a well-told account of Sir Harry’s Governorship of New South Wales, and a chapter on his short-lived but no less famous brother, Commander Wyatt Rawson, who led the historic night march over the desert to Tel-el-Kebir.
Richard Corfield of Somaliland
By H. F. PREVOST-BATTERSBY,
War Correspondent of the “Morning Post” in South Africa and Somaliland.
It was the news of his death that made the world acquainted with Corfield’s name, but everyone who had served with him knew him as a man of extraordinary charm, with some secret source of power which had an amazing influence over savage peoples, and regarded a notable future as assured to him.
He had gone as a mere boy to the South African War, serving afterwards in the South African Constabulary. He had just returned home on leave from his five years’ service when he was appointed to the new Tribal Militia being raised in Somaliland. He remained there till the country was evacuated, and the militia disbanded, in 1910, acquiring a remarkable reputation for handling the most “difficult” natives in Africa.
He was at once transferred to Northern Nigeria, and after a year’s work, signalized by striking successes with the pagan tribes, was specially requisitioned to raise and command a force of camelry, to which the governance of Somaliland was to be entrusted. In nine months he performed miracles in a country literally reeking with blood, 100,000 of the inhabitants having been massacred since the country was evacuated, and restored in that short time the confidence of the natives in the honour of the British Government.
He lost his life in a gallant attempt to check a Dervish raid, which was spreading fresh ruin over the country; but those who read his life will discover that his action touched a much deeper issue than the succour of a starving people. He died for England’s old ways of honour—for the keeping of faith to unfortunate dependents, for his country’s good name.
Teaching for Lads
For use in Bible Classes and Confirmation Classes.
By the REV. PETER GREEN, M.A.,
Rector of St. Philip’s, Salford, and Canon of Manchester; Author of “How To Deal with Lads,” “How To Deal with Men.”
This book is intended primarily for the use of those who have to give instruction to boys in Sunday Schools, Church Lads’ Brigades’ Bible Classes, and similar institutions, and has been written in response to many and constant inquiries from people desirous of help in such teaching. The course of teaching outlined is based upon what the author has himself used with his own classes. Canon Green has the exceptional faculty of combining a knowledge of philosophy with a wide experience in actual practice. He is a theorist who has really put his theories to the test. In his two previous works there has been found a freshness about his whole treatment of the subject that is most stimulating, and it may be confidently asserted that readers of the new volume will derive equal pleasure and profit from its perusal.
The Origin of Attic Comedy
By F. M. CORNFORD,
Fellow and Lecturer of Trinity College, Cambridge; Author of “From Religion to Philosophy,” “Thucydides Mythistoricus,” etc.
This book tries to show that the peculiar structure and features of Aristophanic Comedy can be explained by an hypothesis like that by which Professor Gilbert Murray explains the form of Greek Tragedy. A detailed examination of the extant plays brings to light, under all their variety, a plot-formula composed of a regular sequence of incidents: Agon, Sacrifice, Feast, Marriage, Kômos. The theory is that this canonical sequence presents the stereotyped action of a folk-drama (like the English Mummer’s Play), which itself preserves the outline of a well-known seasonal ritual. This ritual turns out to be substantially identical with that which, according to Professor Murray, lies behind Tragedy. The stock masks in the Old Comedy are shown to be the essential characters in the supposed folk-drama. On this view, various features of Aristophanic Comedy, such as the Agon and Parabasis, about which widely different views are now held, can be satisfactorily explained. It follows also that Aristophanic Comedy is not a patchwork of heterogeneous elements, but a coherent whole, and in all probability a native growth of Attic soil. Athenian Comedy and Tragedy have a common source in ritual of the same fundamental type. The causes of their differentiation—a problem of great interest in the history of drama—are treated in the last chapter.
The book is intended, not only for classical scholars, but for all readers interested in the origin and growth of the drama. Greek has been confined to the footnotes, and a synopsis of the plots of Aristophanes’ plays has been added, to enable the ordinary reader to follow the argument.
The Revival of the Religious Life
By FATHER PAUL BULL,
Of the House of the Resurrection, Mirfield.
The purpose of the author of this volume is to give an outline sketch of the ideals of the Religious Life, and the attempts to realize that life in history, and to trace the various manifestations and interpretations of the ascetic and mystic spirit of the Gospel. Father Bull has spent twenty-two years of his life in trying to realize these ideals, and feels that both the infinite joy of the attempts and also his consciousness of abysmal failure may have qualified him to offer an opinion on the glory and the perils of the Religious Life—the word “Religious” being here used in its original technical sense for a corporate life under rule. In urging the need for a fuller revival of the Religious Life for men in the English Church, the author deprecates mere imitation of what has been done in past times and in other lands, and considers it important to accumulate as soon as possible a body of experience, to discuss principles and see what adaptations of these principles are necessary to meet modern conditions. The book should prove of great interest and utility to all who are concerned with the religious tendencies of our times.
Essays on Faith and Immortality
By GEORGE TYRRELL.
Arranged, with Introduction, by M. D. PETRE, his Biographer.
This volume comprises, for the most part, matter hitherto unpublished which existed in the form of notes and essays amongst the MSS. which Father Tyrrell left behind him. To this have been added a few articles already published, either in England or abroad, in various periodicals, but which are not now easily obtainable, and which possess a certain importance. One of these latter essays, in particular, has attained considerable celebrity, and is yet almost unprocurable—namely, the one entitled “A Perverted Devotion,” which played so large a part in the drama of its author’s life.
The essays have been divided into two parts, of which the first may be said roughly to deal with problems of faith, the second with the ever-recurring problem and mystery of personal immortality. This second part is specially characteristic of George Tyrrell’s mind, with its spiritual tact and delicate power of intuition. Some of the many to whom this question is the question of all questions will find in these essays, not a scientific answer to their difficulties, but illuminating hints and suggestions to help them in their own search. The essays, in fact, as a whole, are not definite treatises, but the musings and gropings of a deeply spiritual mind in its quest of truth.
New Novel
Barbara Lynn
By EMILY JENKINSON,
Author of “Silverwool,” “The Soul of Unrest,” etc.
In “Barbara Lynn” the author returns to the English Lake District—the scene of her novel “Silverwool”; and from the first page, where the reader is taken to the “Lonely Steading in the Dale,” right on to the end, he is not only surrounded by the mighty hills and vast solitudes of Nature, but made to feel the pulse of romance and tragedy. “Barbara Lynn” shows a distinct advance in the work of this gifted young writer. The style, as in her earlier books, is powerful, individual, lucid. There is the same love of wild and majestic scenery, and power to convey impressions of it to others; the same knowledge of human character and of sympathy with country folk, and capacity to enter into their lives and experiences. But with these gifts, which have already given distinction to Miss Emily Jenkinson’s work, we hear a deeper chord struck in “Barbara Lynn.” It comes out especially in the presentation of the character of the girl whose name gives the title to the story. Barbara Lynn is a splendid creature; and the picture of her spiritual victory, her mysticism and self-sacrifice, is something unique in current works of fiction. In our judgment this is a book, not merely to delight readers for a season, but to remain a notable contribution to our literature for a long time to come.