Marcus, the Young Centurion, by G. Manville Fenn (E. Nister,
5s.), is a story of Caesar's wars in Gaul. It is somewhat vague and indefinite. There are battles, but one does not perceive where or how they were fought. The names, too, are somewhat strange. Serge is intelligible ; but how did a Roman Senator come to be called Cracis ?-At the King's Right Hand. By Mrs. E. M. Field. (Wells Gardner, Dayton, and Co. 35. 6d..)-This is a spirited story of the days of Alfred. The young hero of the tale is able to help the Prince at a pinch, enters his service, and fights at his side in many a fierce conflict with the Danes. Mrs. Field has studied her subject carefully, and has the art of making the sayings and doings of her characters fit in harmoniously with history. We doubt whether there was a church of stone already called the West Minster on Thoniey Island in the days before King Alfred came to the throne. -With Richard the eartess. By Paul Creswick. (E. Mister. 35. 6d.) -This is described as "a tale of the Red Crusade." So it is, only that the Crusade itself takes up but a small part of the volume. We reach p. 170 before we are permitted to see Acre, and we leave the Holy Land in Richard's company on p. 259. It is possible, of course, that it is Mr. Creswick's purpose to avoid the history as much as possible; this seems to us a mistake ; the history is not only of the most interesting and picturesque kind, but is told by contemporary writers and early witnesses in the fullest detail. Why, we may ask, is the Emperor Frederick (Barbarossa) spoken of as "Austria's son " ? Austria was a fief of the Empire, as were Bavaria and Saxony. It had its own Duke, and he, if any one, was "Austria's son." Barbarossa would certainly have been ill content to be so styled. "His Majesty," on p. 98, is an anachronism. Charles V. was the first to be so styled. " Highness " or " Grace " was enough for earlier Monarchs.-The Children's Crusade. By E. Everett-Green. (T. Nelson and Sons. 3s. 6d.)-There is scarcely a more piteous story in the annals of the world than that of the "Children's Crusade." Mrs. Everett-Green, who gives to her volume the sub-title of "A Story of Adventure," spares her readers the horrors of the business-and, indeed, these could not possibly be told-and tells the tale with the force and picturesqueness which she knows how to give. Under her guidance her readers follow the fortunes of that division which made its way to Marseilles and fell into the hands of the "two pious merchants," who kidnapped some seven ship- loads, and sold them beyond seas. Her heroes, however, have somewhat better fortune, for they escape the slave market. But we must not tell the story any further.-From the same pub- lishers we have another Crusade story, A Slave of the Saracen, by Gertrude Hollis (2s. 6d.) The subject this time is King Louis IX.'s unlucky adventure in Egypt. The" slave of the Saracen" is not, however, any one of the King's host, though not a few had to put up with this lot, but a young French noble who had been stolen from his home years before. Miss Hollis has made a good use of her subject, which certainly lends itself to picturesque treatment.
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