6o8 



The Review of Reviews. 



CHRISTMAS NUMBERS. 



U'l/ii/sor is gloiified witli no fewer than fifteen 

 pictures, most of them very richly coloured. In 

 ])lace of the opening sketch of a single artist's 

 works, Mr. .Austin Cliester supplies a paper on the 

 Manchester City Art Gallery, adorned with eighteen 

 pictures. Nellie Hadden describes and illustrates in 

 a most interesting way the new Zoological (hardens at 

 Rome. Many of the pictures are very striking and 

 amusing. Laurence North supplies a sketch of the 

 child and his dumb friends, at once pathetic and 

 entertaining. Miss Ellen Terry on stage decoration, 

 and Mr. Clarke on waste water detection have, with 

 other papers, been separately noticed. 



The Lady's Realm opens with a suggestion by 

 VValdemar Kaempfifert of the theory that the Star of 

 Bethlehem is a nova, or new star, such as Tycho Brahe saw 

 in 1572. Norah Schlegel draws some comical cartoons 

 illustrating the Seven Ages of Modern Man. Max 

 Rittenberg's description of the Berlin stores and Dr. 

 Pettinati's account of the Rome beauty competition 

 claim separate notice. Mr. Stanley S. Naylor de- 

 scribes Mr. and Mrs. Oscar Asche at home. Their 

 town house overlooks " Lord's " cricket ground, and 

 for all that can be seen from its windows might be in 

 the country. Mrs. Asche relates that when she went 

 to Manchester to secure an appointment under Mr. 

 Benson, she saw two actors standing there. Mr. 

 .\sche was one of them, and as soon as she had passed 

 through the door he turned to his friend and said, 

 " That is the girl I am going to marry." 



One of the best things about the /"a// J/i?// is its 

 cover, in which Boy and Girl Scouts are seen stalking 

 Father Christmas. • There is a wealth of illustration. 

 The issue is almost made up of fiction. Charles 

 Bears tells of the ghosts of the sea in the form of 

 spectral figures of men and ships of which the sailor- 

 folk tell their tales. Mr. Charles Morley describes 

 how child emigrants are leaving Old England by tlie 

 shipload under the society for ever associated with 

 Dr. Barnardo's name. An interview with a master of 

 dancing is full of lamentation over the lost art of 

 dancing. He says if you wish to find the best dancing 

 in this country you must look for it among the middle 

 and professional classes. You will not find it among 

 the upper classes, for tiiey have not the time to learn, 

 nor will they take the trouble. Military men do not 

 dance so well as naval men, for in most of the naval 

 colleges they have weekly classes for dancing. 



A feature in London is the " Carol of the Fir-Tree," 

 by Alfred Noyes, illustrated in colour. The number 

 is almost entirely composed of fiction. Mr. J. Foster 

 Fraser describes Christmas in London, and gives a 

 wide survey of the institutions that help to make 

 Christmas happy for the poor Londoner. He says : 

 " Rather a jumble of goodness, jollity, hard work, 

 modern foibles and old customs is Christmas in 

 London. But it brings • goodwill to men,' and 

 nowhere in the world is there a place with so big and 

 generous a heart as London at Christmas-lime." Mr. 



Arnold White pronounces British brains the best. 

 Over against the disparagement of our intellect in 

 comparison with Continentals, he insists that we have 

 the best judges, the best administrators, the best war- 

 ship builders, the greatest contractors, "a splendid 

 Press." He has even a good word to say for the 

 brain power of the regimental officer of 1911. He 

 glorifies Briti.sh women. 



Scribners indulges in the lu.xury of five coloured 

 plates, and a series of beautifully tinted pictures 

 illustrating a Berkshire winter. Some fine drawings 

 by Garth Jones illustrate " Half-told Tales " by Henry 

 van Dyke, The magazine is almost entirely composed 

 of fiction. 



With a Christmas double number the Strand 

 attains its twenty-first birthday, and recalls with 

 pleasure the tributes it has received from high and 

 low. It boasts that it was read each month from 

 cover to cover by characters so diverse as the late 

 Queen Victoria and Cardinal Manning. The contents 

 are chiefly fiction, but there is a symposium on the ten 

 greatest men alive, noticed elsewhere. The songs of 

 great schools — Eton, Charterhouse, and Winchester — 

 are given, with music. There is an account of the 

 home life of the Royal Family, and an interesting paper 

 on spooring by Mr. Pocock, Superintendent of the 

 London Zoological Gardens. Some pictures which 

 Ruskin criticised are reproduced, with his criticism. 

 A page of Spooneriana, collected by Mr. A. T. Corke 

 and illustrated by Mr. G. Morrow, is one of the most 

 amusing features. 



THE ROUND TABLE. 



The Round Table this quarter contains two articles 

 each of which would make a volume by itself. The 

 first deals with Anglo-German relations, briefly 

 noticed elsewhere. The second discusses the Con- 

 gestion of Business in the House of Commons. It 

 is a masterly, comprehensive, but somewhat despair- 

 ing .survey of the utter breakdown of the House 

 of Commons as a legislative machine, and still worse 

 as an arena for the adequate debate of public 

 questions. It is illustrated by elaborate tables, which 

 must have taken an immensity of patient labour to 

 compile, showing e.\actly how the House of Com- 

 mons makes use of its time. In the Home Section, 

 Home Rule, the strikes, and the Conservative leader- 

 ,ship are discu.ssed. The Canadian editor discusses 

 the General Election, the contest in Quebec, the 

 Conservative Cabinet, and the Census. The South 

 African section deals with the Census, Redistribu- 

 tion, Immigration, and the Neutrality of South Africa 

 in Case of War. Australia supplies a paper on the 

 Referenda, New Zealand Domestic Politics, the 

 Citizen .Army, Population, and Immigration. Under 

 India the editor deals with Education, Foreign 

 Policy, and Ilecentialisation. The Round Table is a 

 most valuable review, the only review which deals 

 seriously and systematically with the Empire as a 

 whole. 



