GERMAN MAGAZINES. Deutsche Revue. MAX LAUTNER discusses the authenticity of the " Sistine Madonna" at Dresden. To prove that Raphael himself painted the picture, and that it is not simply a copy of he "Madonna" at Piacenza, he cites history, and goes nto minute examinations of Raphael's monogram. The article is illustrated with reproductions of portions of the picture, an innovation rarely seen in the pages of the German review. The use made of air-ships to test the density of the atmosphere and generally to increase our meteorological knowledge is fully described by Professor R. Börnstein, of Berlin. The first attempts to ascertain the temperature at varying altitudes were made by means of kites in 1748 by Alexander Wilson, near Glasgow. Kites have now given place to balloons, and the somewhat wild observaions of Robertson, who said in 1803 that he knew the air-pressure in higher altitudes was less than on the earth, by the fact that he was unable to put on his hat as his head had swelled so much, have been followed by the most exact observations taken at great heights and in the most exhaustive manner. In view of later events, M. O. Brandt's article on China rather loses its point. He says that Germany should take no prominent part in the Chinese trouble, as she has no more to revenge, no more to punish than have others. He deprecates judging events in the East by European standards for the incalculable factor. The hatred against the foreigner may suddenly burst all bounds. He cites the instances of our experiences in India and Afghanistan as proof of the fact. Professor Th. Mommsen discusses the future of the "Goethe-Bund," which was called into being to oppose the lex Heinze. He rejoices in the fact that the Bill was defeated, but reminds his readers that it is sure to be brought forward again. Other articles are not very interesting, in fact the whole number is rather below its usual standard. Monatsschrift für Stadt und Land. The August number is rather above the average. The review of events of the month has several interesting articles by various writers. Ulrich von Hassell contributes a brief sketch of the Chinese Empress which tells as nothing new, and concludes his article by saying that be considers the former Governor of Shantung, Hy-Siang, is probably responsible for the present troubles. He, however, is much more interesting in his remarks upon Colonial politics. Not unnaturally he speaks with satisfaction of the way in which the ten thousand men of the German China contingent were raised, fully equipped, and despatched to China, when absolutely no provision is nade in the German army for such an emergency. This leads us to a discussion of the probabilities of the formation of a permanent colonial army. France, who, he reminds us, can look back upon is many centuries of colonisation as Germany can lecades, has only now decided to found a Colonial irmy, and Germany will not be long in following her example. Von Hassell expresses a hope, however, hat his country will not follow the example of her neighbour, and look upon the Colonial army as a sort of safetyalve for the turbulent spirits among the officers. The est of his article deals with the troubles in the East African colonies, and the financial situation of the other German possessions. An anonymous writer contributes an article describing the different methods in Germany and America for regulating the slaughter of cattle and sale of meat. In Germany, the quantity of meat supplied has increased since 1883 by 30 per cent., whilst the population has only mounted by 21 per cent. Owing to the fact that all cattle have to be examined before slaughter and all meat also has to be inspected, the beasts instead of going as formerly direct from the farmers to the slaughterer and from him to the customer, now pass through the hands of many middlemen, and the result is that from forty to fifty marks more are paid on each beast. It is interesting to note that amongst other beasts mentioned as providing food for man, and therefore having to be examined, are goats and horses. Owing to the meat trust in America, all the smaller slaughter-houses have disappeared and only seven large firms remain. According to the writer there is absolutely no guarantee that the American meat is good, as no inspection is required or ordered. The trust having secured its market at home turned its attention abroad. By selling meat at a figure much lower than in the United States it succeeded in establishing itself firmly in Europe. In 1894 it exported 1,450 million pounds, and in 1897 2,000 millions. Julius Lohmann contributes an account of his visit to Ober Ammergau in order to assist people to answer the question whether or not, as Christians, they should go to see the Passion Play. He answers the question in the affirmative, but says any person who wishes to go there should first of all obtain and study the text. He criticises the play from a religious point of view, and objects to one or two additions made from legend to the Bible story. In fact, he seems not much satisfied with the text, and says that the wonderful acting is a good deal above it. C. von Zepelin gives the first instal ent of an article on the position of Russia and England in Asia at the beginning of the new century. Other Magazines. The Illustrirte Zeitung contains many interesting photographs and articles. Amongst the former is a new photograph of the King and Queen of Servia. Photos of the new King and Queen of Italy, of the new Duke of Coburg and the Regent, as well as of the late King Humbert and Prince Alfred. Naturally most of the illustrations represent the German-Chinese contingent drilling, embarking and leaving the Fatherland. description of the new Klausen Road in Switzerland is most instructively illustrated with views of the wild regions through which it passes. A double-page drawing represents the battleships of the various Powers now in Chinese waters, and several views of "German China" are given. A In the Neue Deutsche Rundschau Felix Pappenberg writes a descriptive article upon the Paris Exhibition. He thinks it should be visited in the evening when illuminated, and everything looks fairylike, rather than during the day. The Exhibition seems to him a good representation of Paris, that is to say, that it is simply a constant fête. One of the most interesting articles in Vom Fels zum Meer is an illustrated account of Count Zeppelin's airship. The cost of construction was £50,000, and to fill the balloon £200 worth of gas is required. "COLDWATER SPELL BINDER "--the phrase appears in the American Review of Reviews-is one of the latest idioms to describe an effective Temperance orator. THE ITALIAN MAGAZINES. THE Italian Reviews for August, as was only to be expected, are entirely dominated by the death of King Humbert. There can be no doubt that his assassination has called forth an amount of sympathy with and enthusiasm for the House of Savoy which will go far to strengthen its hold on the crown of United Italy. Never during his lifetime did the unfortunate monarch enjoy so much popularity as in these days of mourning for his death. Even the Jesuit organ the Civiltà Cattolica leads off with an article of correct and dignified condolence, and both the Rassegna Nazionale and the Rivista Politica e Letteraria appear with wide black borders. The Nuova Antologia, besides reproducing what considering the circumstances we can only call the very striking letters of condolence issued spontaneously by the Archbishops of Genoa, Naples and Florence, and the Bishops of Cremona, Pavia, Acqui and Piacenza, publishes in large type an eloquent expression of public lamentation and of sympathy with the widowed queen by the distinguished novelist Antonio Fogazzaro. theless it does not-like some other periodicals—allow its sorrow to run away with its political judgment, and the same number (August 15th) contains a striking article from the pen of the well-known writer Edoardo Arbib in most pessimistic vein, in which from quotations from the letters of the public men who built up Italian unity he shows how fervent was their patriotic enthusiasm, how invincible their faith in their country's future; whereas to-day, he declares, you find on all sides a timid anxiety as to what may happen, an uneasy conviction that the present régime cannot last much longer. Never The Rivista Politica e Letteraria, however, takes a directly opposite view. Besides publishing an article of condolence on the death of the King couched in terms of somewhat extravagant eulogy, it attempts to prove in a second article how much Italy has progressed under his benign rule. The author has the courage to assert that the nation is greater, richer, and better governed than it was twenty years ago, and he is especially indignant at the suggestion emanating from many quarters that anarchism is the outcome of the misery and poverty of the people. Even the disastrous Abyssinian expedition finds in him an apologist, and the agrarian question which is troubling the ablest minds in the country is treated by him with airy optimism. In his little Rivista Popolare the Radical deputy Napoleon Colajanni protests vehemently against repressive and reactionary measures as a result of the crime at Monza, and also against the identification of democratic and popular aspirations with those of the Anarchists. All who wish to follow closely the progress of the important excavations now being carried on in the Roman Forum should study an important article in the Nuova Antologia by the engineer G. Boni, describing his own discoveries round the Aedes Vestae. It is illustrated by a series of excellent photographs. Other articles interesting to English readers are a translation of the address delivered recently to the Dante Society in London by our poet-laureate (August 16th), and an article dealing in somewhat condemnatory fashion with the evolution of English Imperialism of the last few years which, however, is disfigured by a number of misprints of English names. Cosmos Catholicus continues to be distinguished by the excellence of its illustrations on topics of the day. The latest number contains an interesting account, with portraits, of the learned Abbé Duchesne, recently made à Monsignor by the Pope, who, it will be remembered, was a member of the Commission on Anglican Orders. Pall Mall Magazine. THE September number of the Pall Mall Magazine begins a new volume with some excellent reading. The late Charles Yriarte's account of the Hertford Collections -a real novel only asking to be written out at length-is noticed elsewhere, as also Mr. Schooling's plea for a redistribution of seats as between Ireland and England. The fate which has recently befallen Inverary Castle makes the Rev. A. H. Malan's sketch of its story and glory only the more pathetic. London Woods, as they were and as they are, supply Mr. J. B. Carlile with material for a most interesting paper, to be commended to all Londoners who wish to enjoy more intelligently their sylvan environs. Another open-air article is Capt. Bagot's breezy account of yachting. The frontispiece is a good reproduction of "Cupid's Holiday" by Bouguereau. Windsor. THE Windsor for September has in it much to interest and amuse without imposing any severe strain on the reader's intellect. Earl Mayo's account of the great Russian ice-breaker claims separate notice. "How Landowners are Made" is a lively sketch by Mr. Arthur Goodrich of the sale of freehold sites on either side of the Thames estuary. He tells how at Laindon plots, 100 feet by 20, are sold to working men for £5 down or 6d. a week for four years. Mr. George Wade's sketch of the "Yeomen of the Guard" declares the Gilbert and Sullivan opera mistaken in confounding the yeomen with the Warders of the Tower. The Beefeaters are a distinct corps which never served as King's bodyguard. Mr. Harry Golding tries to reckon up the £ s. d. of literary shrines, and beginning with Stratford-on-Avon, calculates that entrance fees alone to Shakespeare buildings amount to considerably more than £2,000 a year; he would put the total revenue to the town at something like £10,000 a year. Mr. A. Wallis Myers exhibits specimens of photography by Lady Molyneux, Lord Battersea, the Earl of Dartmouth, the Duchess of Bedford and others. Cassell's. THE September number is full of fresh and diversified interest. Mr. Arnold White's cry of alarm about our Navy is noticed elsewhere. The speed with which locomotives can be put together when the constituent parts are ready is shown by Mr. Harold Shepstone. He gives photographs of a French locomotive in several stages of building, which were completed in 64 hours. But our own London and North Western Railway erected a goods-engine so far back as 1878 in 25 hours. Ten years later the Pennsylvania Railroad built a passenger-engine in 16 hours 50 minutes. To the Great Eastern Railway belongs the record achievement of building in 1891 a six-wheel coupled goods-engine and tender in 9 hours 47 minutes ! Mr. Edward Cooper writes a very bright paper, “On the Matterhorn." Two things he mentions call for remark. One is, that singers carefully taught to breathe for singing purposes make excellent climbers. Correct breath-management enables them to avoid the usual breathlessness. The other is, that when children have been trained to walk properly they make most happy and charming mountaineering companions, not suffering, as might have been expected, from fear or fatigue. From "reveille" to "lights out," the work and play of a volunteer camp are vividly sketched by a sergeant of volunteers. THE "THE MASTER CHRISTIAN." * BY MARIE CORELLI. HE other day I suggested the title of "Candidates of Cain" as an apt description of the candidates who at the coming General Election will stand as advocates for the South African War. Discussing the question. of title with a brilliant young Frenchman, he replied that it might do in England very well, but that in France such a title would be meaningless to the electors. "For," said he, "in France we do not know who Cain was. We are not nurtured on the Bible like you English." "But surely,” I said, "the story of Cain and Abel is part of the universal literature of the world." "No," said he, we are not biblical in France. In fact, in the Old Testament I do not think that there is any character whose name would be familiar to our public, except," he said, that of Samson, and he is known only because Delilah comes in." A SIGN OF THE TIMES. 66 The I wonder what such a public would think of Marie Corelli's sermon which she has published under the title of "The Master Christian." Nothing more strikingly illustrates the contrast between the English and French reading public than the fact that Marie Corelli's new book should have been subscribed for to the extent of 100,000 copies. For it is not a novel; it is a sermon, a sermon that extends over more than 600 closely printed pages. The appetite with which our Puritan forefathers endured two-hour sermons from a Puritan pulpit reappears in the demand for such a book as this. phenomenon does not stand alone. It follows closely upon the heels of another great success in the shape of Mr. Sheldon's theological tractates which began with “In His Steps." "The Master Christian" is a book of the same kind, but its authoress, being a lady novelist, naturally deals with the question from a more imaginative and romantic point of view than the fervent evangelist of Topeka. The British public, it is evident, in the last year of the nineteenth century, prefers to take its theology served up with a sauce of fiction. The amalgam may not commend itself to a literary judgment, but the critics are out of court. Their judgment may be quite sound, and the book may perish and be forgotten as unworthy to live; but its temporary and immediate popularity is the conclusive answer to those who condemn it as unreadable. If 100,000 men and women of the English-speaking world find it in their hearts to pay 6s. for Marie Corelli's sermon, that conclusively disposes of the allegation that it is unreadable. There are more people ready and eager to read it than there are to read the novels of almost any other of our contemporary novelists. It may be a proof that the popular palate is not refined, or it may not. That is not the question. Miss Corelli has her public, and it is a wider public than that of most of those who compete with her in the task of amusing or edifying the novel-readers of to-day. Mrs. Humphry Ward's success with "Robert Elsmere" is another indication of what goes down with the British public; and the phenomenal sale of such works is perhaps much more worthy of consideration than anything that is to be found within the covers of the books themselves. 66 WHAT THE MASTER CHRISTIAN IS LIKE. If any one wants to know what "The Master Christian" is like, without reading its six hundred and thirty pages, he will not have much difficulty if he takes Sheldon's "In His Steps," Zola's "Rome," and any of Marie Corelli's previous novels in equal proportions. The note which runs through the whole is the same as Mr. Sheldon's. The thesis is that we have to get back to the Christianity of Christ if mankind is to be saved. Therein she agrees very largely with Mrs. Humphry Ward and Mr. Sheldon. Her method of expounding this doctrine very much resembles Zola's handling of a different theme in "Rome," that is to say, she takes her typical Master Christian to the Vatican, and confronts him with the Pope and the Cardinals, with the results that might be anticipated. But the book has a great deal in it that differs very much from either Sheldon's "In His Steps " or Zola's "Rome." The distinctively Corellian note is a certain shrewish vindictiveness, and yet it is quite possible that this element will contribute as much to the success of the book as anything else. A "NO POPERY" NOVEL. For at this present moment a considerable section of the religious public in England is very irate with Rome and the Romanising clergy in the Establishment. The "No Popery" wave is rising, and "The Master Christian" will float like a cork on its topmost crest. Marie Corelli in "The Master Christian" represents the priesthood of the Roman Church exactly as her heroine Angela, the artist, paints her typical priest. Here is her description of the picture which Angela had labelled "A Servant of Christ at the Madeleine, Paris": Low beetling brows-a sensual cruel mouth with a loosely projecting under-lip-eyes that appeared to be furtively watching each other across the thin bridge of nose--a receding chin and a narrow cranium, combined with an expression which was hypocritically humble, yet sly, this was the type Angela Sovrani had chosen to delineate, sparing nothing, softening no line, and introducing no redeeming point-a type mercilessly true to the life; the face of a priest--" A Servant of Christ," as she called him. The title, united with that wicked and repulsive countenance, was a terribly significant suggestion. When she was upbraided for selecting such an evil type of priest, she declares that "there is no question of choice. These faces are ordinary among our priests! At all the churches, Sunday after Sunday, I have looked for a good, a noble face, in vain! for an even commonly honest face-in vain!" That is her portrait of a priest. Her portrait of an archbishop, which is labelled, "Lord, I thank thee that I am not as other men," presents us with the following picture of a dignitary of the Church : The smooth countenance, the little eyes comfortably sunken in small rolls of fat, the smug smiling lips, the gross neck and heavy jaw... and above all, the perfectly self-satisfied and mock-pious air of the man. Such is Marie Corelli's typical archbishop. As she paints her "Servant of Christ" and her archbishop, so she paints the whole Roman Church. THE TYRANT MAN. Nor is it only the Roman Church which she caricatures and libels. She is equally out of temper and equally out of sympathy with the relations of the sexes. man is very little better than a brute and a savage. Her typical complete savage in low life kicks his wife to death, and The the savage in high life kills the mother of his children by neglect and infidelity. There is no doubt an element of truth in what she says about the domination of man, but her voice always seems to rise into a kind of screamy shriek when she is dealing with marriage as it is, or with the reluctance of men to recognise the excellence of women's work. All of us, no doubt, could suggest many improvements, both in the conventional attitude of man to woman, as well as in the organisation and methods of the Christian Church; but even those who are most in sympathy with her ultimate aim feel constrained to protest against the exaggeration with which Miss Corelli delivers her message. A WANT OF SYMPATHY. As a book the chief fault of "The Master Christian" is lack of sympathy. retort that she is justified by the various passages in Miss Corelli will, no doubt, the sayings of Jesus in which He denounces woes upon the Scribes and Pharisees; but no one who reads the Gospels with a dispassionate mind can for a moment profess that this denunciatory vein was the most typical or even the most persistent note in the teachings of the Nazarene. The familiar legend which tells of the different way in which Christ and His disciples treated the dead dog which they found lying at the city gates, might be commended with advantage to our splenetic authoress. The disciples only noticed the stench of the decaying corpse, while their Master bade them note with admiration the beauty and whiteness of its teeth. In contemplating the Churches, especially the Church of Rome, Marie Corelli can only feel the stench. If it has any beauties, they do not appeal to her. Hence she largely defeats her own end. There are faults in Rome as there are in all human institutions; but any one who takes up an attitude of wholesale depreciation, and can find nothing in the great organisations in which generation after generation of devout souls have endeavoured to give practical effect to the teaching of their Saviour, puts herself out of court. Even when you are attacking your opponent's case, it is as well to admit that there is some good in it. No institution that is wholly bad can survive; and whatever may be said against the Papacy and the Vatican, no one can deny that they have survived for many centuries, and are likely to survive for centuries to come. This may be too philosophical a reflection for the 100,000 readers who Christian," but it is true, nevertheless, and I must are devouring "The Master. protest against the attempt to use the loftiest of all conceptions in order to give free rein to the indulgence of hatred, malice, and all uncharitableness in dealing with the institutions and the creeds which, with all their faults, have nevertheless been effectual in turning the minds of millions of our fellow-men towards the ideal life. A LACK OF MORAL PERSPECTIVE. In the world, as we see it to-day, when a foremost Christian nation which has repudiated the Pope and all his works can find nothing better to do with its accumulated wealth and strength than to carry fire and sword through the territories of two small Republics, it shows a lamentable lack of moral perspective to treat the Christian Church as if it were the great offender against humanity and religion. What is wanted to-day is not disputatious argument concerning rival creeds, or vituperation of the defects in religious organisations, so a scornful much as an insistence upon the fundamental and elementary tenet of "Thou shalt do no murder." When millions of professedly Christian people are intent above all things upon slaying their brother and seizing his land, it is mere trifling to worry about incense and to waste moral indignation upon the shortcomings of the wirepullers of the Vatican. HER CONCEPTION OF CHRIST Nevertheless, when all this has been said, the fact remains that Marie Corelli has set herself to preach Christ in her own way, and far be it from those who desire to have Christ preached to object too much to the methods by which that missionary work is undertaken. The disciples who forbade the irregulars, who cast out devils and did many wonderful works in the name of Christ, because they followed not the officially appointed teachers, set an example not to be followed, but to be avoided. The first thing, therefore, to ask in a book like this is not whether it has a good literary style or whether its perspective is right and just, but to inquire of the authoress, "What think ye of Christ?" Marie Corelli tells us in various ways what is her idea of the Christ whom she would have the world follow. Her heroine, Angela, paints a picture which we are told is the greatest work of art produced since Raphael's "Transfiguration." It is entitled" The Coming of Christ," and contains her idea of Christ as she conceives him, the most perfect Christ ever painted. Here is her description of this "stupendous conception":: and The central glory of the whole picture was a figure of Christ-unlike any other Christ ever imagined by poet or painter an etherealised form through which the very light of Heaven itself seemed to shine. austerely God-like, the face was more beautiful than any ever Supreme, majestic, and dreamed of by the hewers of the classic marbles; it was the face of a great Archangel, beardless and youthful, yet kingly and commanding. Round the broad brows a Crown of Thorns shone like a diadem, every prickly point tipped with pale fire, and from the floating folds of intense white which, cloud-like, clung about the divine form, faint flashes of the lightning gleamed. Above this grand Christ the heavens were opened, pouring out a rain of such translucent purity of colour and radiance as never were seen in any painted canvas before; but beneath the clouds were black as midnight-confused, chaotic, and drifting darkly on a strong wind, as it seemed, into weird and witch-like shapes, wherein were seen moon revolving pallidly, like globes of fire lost from their the sun orbits and about to become extinct. black films were a crowd of human creatures, floating and fallAnd among those shifting ing into unknown depths of darkness, and striking out wild arms of appeal and entreaty and despair. The faces of these were all familiar, and were the life-like portraits of many of those preeminent in the history of the time. Chief among them was the Sovereign Pontiff, waxen and wan and dark-eyed, depicted as fastening fetters of iron round the body of a beautiful youth, laurel-crowned, the leaves of the laurel bearing faint gold letters which spelt the word "Science." Huddled beside him was a well-known leader of the Jesuits, busily counting up heaps of gold. Another remarkable figure was that of a wellknown magnate of the Church of England, who, leaning forward, eagerly sought to grasp and hold the garment of the Pope, but was dragged back by the hand of a woman crowned with an Imperial diadem. After these and other principal personages came a confusion of faces—all recognisable, yet needing study to discern -creatures drifting downwardly into the darkness: one was the vivisectionist whose name clutching at his bleeding victim and borne relentlessly onwards was celebrated through France, by the whirlwind-and forms and faces belonging to men of every description of Church doctrine were seen trampling underneath them other human creatures scarcely discernible. And over all this blackness and chaos the supernal figure of the glorious Christ was aerially poised; one hand was extended, and to this a woman clung-a woman with a beautiful face made piteous in its beauty by long grief and patient endurance. In her other arm she held a sleeping child-and mother and child were linked together by a garland of flowers partially broken and faded. Her entreating attitude, the sleeping child's helplessness, her worn face, the perishing roses of earth's hope and joy, all expressed their meaning simply yet tragically; and as the Divine Hand supported and drew her up out of the universal chaos below, the hope of a new world, a better world, a wiser world, a holier world, seemed to be distantly conveyed. But the eyes of the Christ were full of reproach, and were bent on the Representative of St. Peter binding the laurel-crowned youth, and dragging him into darkness, and the words written across the golden mount of the picture, in clear black letters, seemed to be actually spoken aloud from the vivid colour and movement of the painting. Many in that day will call upon Me and say, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Thy name, and in Thy name cast out devils, and done many wonderful works? 66 "Then will I say to them, I never knew you! Depart from Me all ye that work iniquity!" AND OF THE IDEAL CHRISTIAN. If this be the Christ, what is it to be a Christian? For a description of the perfect Christian she falls back upon the poem of the late Dr. Charles Mackay: : If thou'rt a Christian in deed and thought, And not a cloak to be worn in the mart, White and forgiven, And pass, unchallenged, the Golden Gate, If Peace is thy prompter, and Love is thy guide, And owning with sadness if badness there be, There might have been badness in thine and in thee, And pass, unchallenged, the Golden Gate, If thou art humble, and wilt not scorn, All God's angels will say, "Well done !" Thou'lt enter heaven, And pass, unchallenged, the Golden Gate, THE CRUCIAL QUESTION. 66 But the question as to how the mass of brutish humanity is to be brought up to this high ideal is not answered by Marie Corelli with any degree of explicitness. She would have a purified Church, she tells us, a House of Praise to God, without any superstition or dogma"; but the only pages in which she does anything like justice to the conception of the Roman Church occur in the conversation between Aubrey Leigh the Socialist and Monsignor Gherardi. Aubrey declares that if the Roman Catholic faith were "purified from the accumulated superstition of ages and freed from intolerance and bigotry, it would perhaps be the grandest form of Christianity in the world"; to which Monsignor Gherardi replies that it is not the Church against which he should arm himself-it is the human race : It is not one or many religious systems with which you should set yourself to contend. It is the blind brutishness of man. The Church tries to supply the spiritual needs of the human being, such as his spiritual needs at present are. When he demands more, it will give him more. At present his needs are purely personal and, therefore, low and tainted with sexuality. Yet we drag him along through these emotions as near to the blameless Christ as we can. "You wish," said Gherardi, "to help and serve humanity. Enthusiast! You would do far better to help and serve the Church, for the Church rewards. Humanity has cursed and killed every great benefactor it ever had, including Christ." 66 It is, however, perhaps asking too much from Marie Corelli to explain how she would found her new Church. Mrs. Humphry Ward ventured upon this arduous undertaking, not with much success, in Robert Elsmere "; but that is the root and difficulty of the whole question, and in this book it is shirked rather than faced. Now, having thus set forth Marie Corelli's own account of the Christ which she would preach and the Christianity which she would introduce, and noted her evasion of the real question as to how a human organisation can co-operate in realising this divine ideal, let us turn to the story which, in order to leaven her somewhat destructive and ill-defined theology, she has crammed full of the familiar resources of the transpontine melodrama. THE STORY. The motif of the tale is very simple, but her attempt at realising her idea is very daring. A good Cardinal, who might have been modelled in many respects upon Cardinal Manning-Felix Bonpré-determines to leave his cathedral town, and go on a tour of several months, during which time he would try to probe for himself the truth of how the world was going, "whether on the downward road to destruction and death, or up the high ascents of progress and life." He very soon found that the confusion and trouble of the world were not mere hearsay, but in very truth existed. Everywhere he found the general bewilderment of the world, and everywhere he traces it to the same root, the growing lack of faith in God and hereafter. How came faith to grow dim? The more he considered this subject, the more persistently the same answer asserted itself that the blame rested principally with the Church |