In His Name. By Edward E. Hale. (Seeley and Co.)—This
"story of the Waldenses seven hundred years ago" is written with no common amount of taste and skill. The plot is made to centre in a single incident. Felicie Waldo, daughter of Jean Waldo, a wealthy weaver of Lyons, takes from her mother a medicinal draught in which some poisonous herb has been mixed. Will she die or will she live? is the question. Nothing could be better managed, from the literary point of view, than the suspense in which the reader is kept till he approaches the very end of the story, and the art with which the ruling principle of the Waldensian brotherhood, otherwise called the "Poor Men of Lyons," is worked into the tale. It will be easily understood that this is a subject that, as much as any other, needs discreet handling. It might too easily have been spoilt by dull or irritating controversy. Mr. Hale makes us admire—he would make any reader, whatever his prepossessions, admire—the "Poor Men," with their watchword, so loyally carried into practice, "For the Love of Christ," but he does not offend. The figures, too, of his tale are highly picturesque. Miele herself, as she stands on the hill of Fourvieres, and kisses her hand to her "dear old friend," Mont Blanc, seen in the sunset light some ninety miles away; the reserved Florentine physician, with his blaekamoor attendant; the Monk John of Lugio, and Father William, are some of the most striking; nor must we forget the Troubadour, with his charmingly told tale of " Nicolette and Aueassin." The illustrations, drawn by Mr. G. P. Jacomb-Hood, are excellent. Altogether, In His Name, which, we should mention, is a new edition of a book which has been for some time out of print, is one of the best of the Christmas volumes.
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