From Holiday Ea. Wallace's "The Fair God." Copyright 1898, by Houghton, Mifflin & Co.

HE edition of Lew Wallace's "The Fair God," published by Houghton, Mifflin & Co., stands in the front rank of the holiday publications as a specimen of beautiful bookmaking. The publishers have brought out this thrilling story of the Conquest of Mexico by Cortes in two volumes, generously illustrated by Eric Pape, whose skill as an artist has been praised by exacting experts. This historical novel, first published in 1873, charmed the artist and fired his ambition to make his artistic accompaniment worthy of the powerful, picturesque, and marvellous tale. He went to Mexico to study the scenes the author has described so vividly, and while drawing the pictures his imagination conjured up for him his enthusiasm grew and his great work has been truly a labor of love. His designs show a power and intellectual grasp, together with technical ability, rarely devoted to book illustration. He has re-created the heroes, the stormy passions, the beauty and glory of the Mexican Conquest with compelling genius. But it is in the head and tail pieces and initial letters that the great beauty of the book consists. They are a collection of designs that typify the whole history and mythology of the Aztecs, all made carefully from existing sacred relics, stones, idols, etc., and printed in rich red, black, and gold. The title-page is a marvel of beauty, and the list of illustrations, with full explanations, is in itself a liberal education in Aztec lore.

The fabulous popularity of "Ben Hur" has so identified that book with the name of General Wallace that many hardly remember that the author's first great success was made with "The Fair God," which is in its own field as wonderful a book as the "Tale of the Christ,"

and has also reached a sale of 130,000 copies. From the bewitching pages of "The Fair God" a reader may get all the facts of the glory and overthrow of that great Aztec kingdom over which King Montezuma ruled supreme until the audacity, valor, recklessness, and achievement of the Spaniards under their almost worshipped leader, Cortes, drove him from his tottering throne.

With stern fidelity to facts Wallace tells the story of the highest civilization of the day amidst the fairy-like natural surroundings of our own land, of the invasion of the most powerful of European nations, of the conquest of the land, and of the steady deterioration of the conquerors at home and in their new possessions. The author's poetical and philosophical insight into causes recognizes that Quetzal, the Fair God, has been driven away by prejudice and that his home and temples have been dishonored. A faith remains in the heart of his followers that he will still return to his own people, and all the signs of the coming of the invaders are hailed by many as the glorious return of Quetzal. The description of the old temples, religious rites, priestesses, women's courts, and other Aztec manners and customs are done in the best style of the author of "Ben Hur " and "The Prince of India." The love-story is pure and touching and a charming element of the book. The Athenæum has pronounced "The Fair God" "one of the best historical novels,"

and the New York Times says: "In all the accessories to a complete historical novel the author has perfected himself down to the minutest details."

Through varied personal experience General Wallace reached the remarkable power he has shown in his three great novels. The Mexican War appealed to the military ardor of the young Indiana lawyer and he went to Mexico as Second Lieutenant in the First Indiana Volunteers. He became interested in Mexican history, archæology, and religion, and his studies bore fruit in "The Fair God," his first novel. In 1878 he was appointed by President Hayes to be Governor of New Mexico, and while away from home and friends in that distant territory he made the profound study of the Christian religion which he worked into "Ben Hur." From 1881 to 1885 General Wallace was United States Minister to Turkey, and entered with all his old zeal into the study of the history, archæology, religion, and political conditions of great historic Constantinople, and finally put his faithfully acquired facts into "The Prince of India." In his writings there is a constant tendency to military pomp, and his best writing is given to descriptions of processions, chariot-races, battles, and deeds of daring. But the romantic element is also strong within him, and some of the tenderest love passages in modern fiction are from the pen of this healthy, optimistic soldier-author.

words he flashes a scene before the eyes, and his descriptions of people bring them before us like photographs. The reading world knows the quality of the

To General Wallace's many gifts he also adds a talent for drawing far above the average. This enables him to see the scenes his marvellous wordpainting brings before his readers, and to endue every picture he presents with life and action. Nothing finer can be painted in words than the scenes of the underground halls where Montezuma's daughter was wooed by Cortes.

Indeed, General Wallace adds to his extraordinary power of observation the graphic language that can never be taught, save by the teacher, Nature herself. In a dozen picturesque

text of the book, of which 130,000 copies have been distributed in the land. But it is impossible to give those who have not seen it an idea of the beauty of the large-paper edition of the work, in which all its beauties of color are brought out by the soft finish of Japan paper and the perfection of the art of the Riverside Press. This edition is limited, and no time must be lost in ordering.

VINCE

Copyright, 1898, by Charles Scribner's

Sons.

FLAG CARRIED BY THE BEDFORD MILITIA COMPANY AT CONCORD BRIDGE.

MONTH by month, as Senator Henry Cabot Lodge's absorbing story of the great American struggle for freedom has unfolded itself in the pages of Scribner's Magazine, the wonder has grown that SO much that is significant and new could have been added to the oft-told tale. Nowhere as yet in his excellent writings has the junior Senator from Massachusetts shown the power and proportion of this dignified contribution to history. At the very beginning he strikes a note new in histories of the Revolution. Most of these have dwelt upon the wrongs and the injustice suffered by the American people which finally led to the great rising of a people subjugated and coerced beyond endurance. Senator Lodge says: "The colonies were the least governed, the best governed, and the freest part of the dominion of Great Britain. A people who for a hundred years had practically governed themselves, and who, like all English-speaking people, understood the value of their liberties, were the quickest to feel and to resent any change which seemed to signify a loss of absolute freedom, and were sure to be the most jealous of anything like outside interference.

America rebelled, not because the colonies were oppressed but because their inhabitants were the freest people then in the world and did not mean to suffer oppression. They did not enter upon resistance to England to redress intolerable grievances, but because they saw a policy adopted which they rightly believed threatened the freedom they possessed. They were the most dangerous people in the world to meddle with, because they were ready to fight, not to avenge wrongs which, indeed, they had not suffered, but to maintain principles on which their rights and liberty rested. The English ministry had begun to assail those principles." After laying down this view of the animating spirit of the Revolution Mr. Lodge makes a thrilling, convincing record of the facts and incidents of the great struggle, then tells how peace was made, and finally sums up in masterly style the meaning of the American Revolution.

The generosity and excellent judgment of Charles Scribner's Sons have given to the author's brilliant literary achievement an equally brilliant pictorial accompaniment. The two fine volumes contain nearly 200 illustrations by Howard Pyle, F. C. Yohn, Carlton T. Chapman, T. de Thulstrup, Walter Appleton Clarke, H. W. Ditzler, G. A. Shipley, and others. By their beauty and interest they cannot fail to appeal to a large constituency not yet fitted to grasp the deep philosophy and to feel stirred by the manly, honest Americanism of its patriotic author.