Spacious Days. By Ralph Durand. (John Murray. Ca)—. In the
spacious days of Queen Elizabeth there arose a hot contention between one Jenson and one Davie, mariners both, for the love of fair Margaret and for the first landing on a far island north of Iceland. We would gladly dispense with the account of the former struggle ; but to force a way through drifting pack-ice and encounter all the mysteries of Arctic seas, with no help beyond that offered by topsails and a Samoyed canoe, and no science but that of soothsayers and Wapping, is daring work ; and the story of the voyage, which • A tarouratic conjunction of certain Fiend..
fills the first half of Mr. Durand's book, is an original and clever bit of writing. The author deserves, moreover, great praise for the care with which he has corusulted bis authorities: a knowledge of the leaser-known Elizabethan literature baa given him, whether writing of the discovery of the island or of contemporary life in London, a deft and convincing touch. He decided, very wisely and to our immense relief, to avoid the archaistic phrases so dear to adventure stories, and writes straightforward English, flavoured with such seemingly modern expressions as "By Jove !" and " Whatthe dickens I"
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