Page images
PDF
EPUB

"I have liked," he says, "especially to refer to the Wild Birds of Killeevy because I find in it precisely that quality which takes its authoress altogether out of the ranks of simple storytellers. I have mentioned, and can emphasise, her rare gift, here, as everywhere apparent, of painting exquisite pictures of Irish scenery-homely and humorous pictures of Irish domestic and village life. You see the purple hills and dim gold sun and the raining clouds; you smell the sweet country scents, and you can hear the merry laughter-but there is throughout the first part of the book, at any rate, that slight touch of mysticism, of symbolism, which implies the Celtic vision; the spiritual eye discerning the more real-I do not say always the most real of all-beneath the surface.

[ocr errors]

To my mind it is better to see fairies and imps, and kobolds and leprecauns in nature, than to see there merely chemicals, just atoms arranged according to a formula. Best of all is it to see there God. There are moments when Lady Gilbert draws the veil, quickly to close it again; yet the vision has been spied, or guessed. There are more, perhaps, when she does not even draw the curtain back, but she makes us feel that nature, even human nature, is but a curtain, and that the greater Truth is more universal, more 'beyond.' Or, if you will, she hints at the supreme truth that all nature is God's sacrament which brings Him to us. It rests chiefly with ourselves whether we habitually realise it holds Him, or find it merely hides Him. Most tenderly Lady Gilbert's books help us to approach, without shock or shudder, the latent Deity."

It is a little surprising, and even unfortunate, that the examples chosen to illustrate Lady Gilbert's work should have been two of her earlier books, instead of some of her later and more mature stories. It may account for a certain lack of enthusiasm which seems to us to underlie this appreciation, in spite of the sympathy and friendliness which it undoubtedly shows.

An address which Father Martindale delivered at the Catholic Congress, held last July at Plymouth, has been reprinted in penny pamphlet form by the English Catholic Truth Society, with the title, Christianity in Modern England. It is a cheering appeal to Catholics to take advantage of the great opportunities now open to them in England to advance the Catholic

We refer to it for the sake of the following quotation, which introduces us to another author, a very distinguished

one, whom we are privileged to include among our contributors:

"Let me conclude this part by briefly mentioning the vast scope there is, too, for Catholic literature, not least for fiction. Let those of you who write aim at two ideals: the perfecting of the Catholic press and organs; the utilisation of the nonCatholic organs. Thus the British Review is emphatically not a Catholic monthly; but by the unique fairmindedness of its editor, Catholics can express themselves in its pages as perhaps in no other non-Catholic magazine. Much, again, can be said in fiction which can in no other way be said, and many reached whom nothing else might reach. It is a privilege to salute here in the person of Mgr. Bickerstaffe-Drew-" John Ayscough "— one whose keen sense of humour, whose tender sympathy with modern minds and temperaments, and whose charming style carry Catholic ideals and standards into countless non-Catholic homes. Do you, then, who write, regard your talent as one exceptionally suited to the work needing to be done and you who do not, well! please read what is written; and get the books which Catholic authors have composed for you put into-and taken out of your local libraries."

It is now pretty generally known that "John Ayscough is identical with Mgr. Bickerstaffe-Drew, one of the increasing number of priests who have taken up what may be called the apostolate of the novel. The returns of the public libraries show what a very large proportion of the books read nowadays belongs to the heading fiction, and show, consequently, in the first place, how important it is to provide an abundance of literature of this class that is at least harmless, and, in the second place, that there is here a wide open door to the minds of men through which those may enter who seek to preserve and to extend God's kingdom. And admirably this opening has been taken advantage of by several in recent times. It would be difficult to estimate the amount of good done by the stories, for example, of Canon Sheehan and Father Guinan writing in Ireland, of Canon Barry and Mgr. Benson in England -to suggest a few familiar names—and not least by the writings of Mgr. Bickerstaffe-Drew.

He is a convert, like Mgr. Benson, and was received into the Church at the age of twenty. The following year, he added to his parental name of Bickerstaffe his mother's name, Drew. This latter name is of interest to us, for it marks his connexion with Ireland, his mother being the daughter of an Irish Pro

testant clergyman, the Rev. Pierce W. Drew, Rector of Youghal. He has at present a dozen or so books to his credit. Considering their remarkable merit, one is not surprised at the praises they receive from Catholic reviewers; but it may surprise some of our readers to see the terms of unstinted eulogy in which they are received by the non-Catholic Press. We quote a few examples of the latter. Of his story, Hurdcott, the Spectator says: "There is a magical quality in Mr. Ayscough's invention which compels acquiescence. The canvas is crowded with characters, none of them commonplace, and Mr. Ayscough's gift for dialogue is on a par with his talent for description and for illuminating comment."

Of his Mezzogiorno, the Evening Standard says: "When we see John Ayscough's name on a novel we expect great things, and in Mezzogiorno we are not disappointed. He is always unusual and interesting, and never more so than in this volume. It is one of the finest things Mr. Ayscough has yet written." And The Times calls its heroine "one of the most charming of modern heroines, one of those rare creatures who are as delightful for the reader to meet as for the novelist to create ; gay, careless, innocent, witty."

Outsiders—and In, a volume of short stories, is thus referred to by the Daily Telegraph:" Mr. John Ayscough's work is full of humanity and true humour in the deepest sense. . . . We are very glad to have these stories in book form, so that we may preserve them and read them more than once." And the Birmingham Post is still stronger: "Everything he writes has this note of distinction. . . . Every word is in its right place, and the whole past of the persons in the little drama, and their future, is flashed into pictorial and poignant existence before one's eyes."

Still more striking is the reception accorded to his stories of a distinctly religious tone. Faustula, his story of old Roman days, which the Bishop of Leeds has declared he prefers even to Wiseman's Fabiola, and which the Bishop of Salford quoted by name in his Lenten Pastoral of last year, is referred to by the Pall Mall Gazette as a notable book for any time the World says of it: It is in some respects one of the most brilliant of its brilliant author's books, and, while it charms, it leaves a deep impression."

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

; and

His greatest work-so far-is considered to be San Celestino, a careful and loving study of the life and times of Pope St. Celestine V, cast in the unusual form of a romance. Here is

what the Daily News says of it :-" Mr. Ayscough has written a very notable book. He has reconstructed for us, not only a man, but an epoch. With an unfailing tact, which bespeaks imagination of a rare quality, he creates and conserves his atmosphere. He is a true artist, of an artistry unobtrusive, inevitable, sincere." The Spectator is not less enthusiastic : "A quite admirable piece of work, . . . every scene presented with extraordinary force and verisimilitude. All is finely conceived, the best, as it is the most difficult, part being the development of the ascetic type of Sainthood. Mr. Ayscough is careful not to dehumanise his hero." And finally, to close these extracts from Protestant reviews, the Westminster Gazette says of the same work: "Mr. Ayscough's book deserves more than attention; it deserves study; his gentle, lucid, almost perfect manner;

we have here a fine true picture of the ascetic. . . . If we had the power we would put the book into the hands of every thoughtful person."

...

To produce works of this rare quality and distinction one would think that the author must be at leisure to devote a practically undivided attention to literature; that he must be free from the constant distractions and worries which the care of souls brings with it. But this is by no means the case. His principal work is that of an army chaplain, a position he has held at Plymouth, at Malta, and now holds at Salisbury Plain. Here he has taken on his shoulders a burden which-always a heavy one-weights with exceptional severity upon priests in England, where the Catholic population is so often both small and poor. He has built a church, and now is personally responsible for the debt upon it. This we learn from a letter which appeared last December in the Universe, headed "John Ayscough to any Reader," and from which we quote the conclusion:

"The church, though large and roomy, was very plainly built and very cheaply in proportion to its size and the permanence of its structure, but its cheapness was meant to imply that it should be a ready-money transaction; and the balance (of over £500) due, is due now. Will any of John Ayscough's readers lighten his Christmas for him by helping him? Many of them, perhaps, think of him only as of a writer, but his real work lies at Tidworth Church, and his burden lies there too, as long as the weary cloud of debt hangs over it. To judge by the countless appeals that reach him, many must think that his writing makes him rich-but his books are not of the right sort

for that. If he were rich he would not stand here as a Christmas beggar 'tis not his notion of a Yuletide pleasure.-Yours faithfully,

"JOHN AYSCOUGH.

Winterbourne Gunner, Salisbury Plain. "

Our readers will think all the more highly of "John Ayscough" and his works for the glimpse they get in this letter of the other side of his life; they will see in him the priest whose heart is centred in the souls committed to his care, and who was not afraid to face the anxieties of debt and the humiliations of asking for help for their sakes and for God's service.

AMEN CORNER

XXXVI.—THE SURSUM CORDA Of blessed HENRY SUSO

FATHER FABER, in one of his Spiritual Conferences, says, "Things that are done for God should be done very cleanly. They must be shapely, as well as vigorous. Whata beautiful thing, doubtless, was the Angelus of St. Francis of Sales! There was more in it than in a week of our devotional failures."

This may be a help to perform certain acts of devotion and other duties well, namely, to think how certain favourite saints, or even holy souls on earth, have done, or may be now doing these same things. The next time the Angelus bell rings, let us try to make our Angelus something less unlike than it has generally been to the Angelus of St. Francis of Sales. Some have felt their devotion warmed in repeating the Nicene Creed at Mass, when they remembered that that word of it, Cujus regni non erit finis, used to ravish with delight the glorious soul of St. Theresa. In the same way, some hearts may be stirred to prepare better for the holiest part of the Mass when they hear what has been revealed to us about the Sursum Corda of Blessed Henry Suso (A.D. 1295-1366).

We are told that nothing could exceed the fervour with which Brother Henry celebrated the Holy Mass. His heart seemed all on fire, especially when he repeated the blessed words of exhortation before the Preface, Sursum corda! Gratias agamus Domino Deo nostro—“ Raise up your hearts; let us give thanks to the Lord our God." Once he was ravished into an ecstasy at these words, and under the influence of this grace he VOL. XLII.-No. 488

་་

8

« PreviousContinue »