The World and the Cloister. By Oswald John Simon. •
2 vols. (Chapman and Hall.)—This is a tale of a serious kind, which a thoughtful reader, whether he agree with its main purpose or no, will certainly find repay the trouble of attention. This purpose is one that has been attempted more than once of late years, by fiction as well as by set argument, to prove that Judaism is the religion of the future. That is a proposition which there is no need to discuss. It is not exactly commended to us by facts. But we may say that it is made attractive by Mr. Simon's advocacy. We doubt, indeed, whether religion would be an effective force in the world, were it practised in the way that Mr. Simon's hero practises it. He is a thoroughly " unattached person," who holds a position of such independence and superiority, as regards the various religions, as it is not possible for any but a man of the most exceptional gifts even to attempt. Hugenot is a very exceptional person, and makes a striking figure, as Mr. Simon has portrayed him. Indeed, in The World and Cloister there are several
figures of unusual distinctness and force, as the worldly Duchess, so strongly ecclesiastical yet so really irreligious, and the heroine Irene. There is some repetition in the earlier chapters; but the tale moves on better as it nears the conclusion.
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