The Review's Bookshop. 



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Jeanne D'Albert, Queen of Navarre, Rachel Lady 

 Russeil, Lady Grissell Bailtie, Queen Louisa of 

 Prussia, Sarah Siddons, Jenny Lind, Louisa Alcott, 

 Catherine Booth, and Dorothea Beale — an oddly 

 mixed dozen. 



Those who love to read gossip about kings will 

 revel in Xavier Paoli's My Royal CUtnts (Hodder 

 and Stoughton. 12s.). M. Paoli was the French 

 detective told oft" to see that nobody killed or 

 annoyed royalties when they visited France. In the 

 twenty-five years of his active service he was brought 

 into close contact with the Tsar Nicholas II., Queen 

 Victoria, King Edward, the King and Queen of Italy, 

 King .Alfonso, King Leopold, the Empress Elizabeth, 

 the Shah of Persia, the King of Greece, Queen 

 Wilhelmina, and the King of Cambodia. M. Paoli 

 writes well, and his observations are often acute and 

 always interesting. 



A Keeper of the Robes, by Fiankfort Moore (Hodder 

 and Stougliton. i6s.), is a gossipy account of Miss 

 Burney as a child and dtiring her five years' service 

 with Queen Charlotte. The book is an amusing 

 contribution to the history of the period, when, 

 though our two monarchs were of the true domestic 

 type, and would have enjoyed the humdrum of a 

 country house, they were yet unable to drink a glass 

 of water until it had been passed from page to 

 equerry through five degrees of persons, and when 

 they were so badly housed that draughts and dis- 

 comforts were a mere matter of course. 



In William the Silent, by Ruth Putnam (Putnam 

 and Sons. 5s.), we have a chapter out of si.xteenth- 

 century history curiously interesting from the light it 

 throws upon William's own absenteeism, the trust he 

 necessarily placed in two out of his four wives, and 

 the family connections of the Dutch Royal family. 

 Moreover, it is declared that William was not silent at 

 all, but a jovial, social personage. It is an addition 

 to the well-known " Heroes of the Nation " series. 



File English Consorts of Foreign Princes, by Ida 

 Woodward (.Methuen. 12s. 6d. net). It is true that 

 a good deal of history may be written round such 

 names as .Margaret Tudor, Mary Tudor, Elizabeth of 

 Bohemia, Mary Stuart, and Henrietta Anne Stuart, 

 but the false atniosjihere that surrounded the Courts 

 of those days makes one disinclined to attempt any- 

 thing in the nature of a verdict. There is always 

 lacking a measure of human interest in those whom 

 we can only see through a veil of diplomatic gossip ; 

 but the authoress has made good use of the available 

 material. 



Among the volumes of reminiscences must be 

 included Jimmy Glover — His Book. Mr. (Jlovcr 

 gives us a vivacious chronicle of events, not all 

 musical, with which he has been associated. His 

 father, who was connected with the Fenian move- 

 ment, was one of the party who rescued from 

 prison the famous Head Centre, James Stephens, and 

 Mr. Glover, the author of the book, if he did not 

 take an active part in the proceedings, at any rate 



witnessed them. Also on the eventful night or early 

 morning when Lord Randolph Churchill, "contrary 

 to all etiquette, precedent, and common decency," was 

 in the Times building announcing his resignation to 

 the editor, Mr. Glover happened to be in the office. 

 He says everybody was locked in till five o'clock to 

 prevent the possibility of leakage, and next morning 

 the Times was able to announce exclusively the news 

 before even Queen Victoria knew of it. The musical 

 reminiscences, too, make lively and often amusing 

 reading. A very interesting chapter is devoted to 

 National Opera. Most of the failures have been due 

 to beginning at the wrong end ; musical laste exists, 

 but it is not rightly catered for, says Mr. Glover. 

 (Methuen. Pp. 300. 7s. 6d. net.) 



THE LIFE OF SIR GEORGE NEWNES. • 



It would be unpardonable, even in the greatest 

 crush of liie Bookshop, not to devote some little 

 space in order to express my warm appreciation of 

 Miss Friederichs' Life of Sir George N'ewnes. No 

 one has better right to feel proud of the admirable 

 literary qualities displayed in this most interesting 

 biography than the present reviewer, who counts it as 

 one of his good deeds that he was privileged to 

 introduce Miss Friederichs to journalism at a time 

 when there was hardly a woman in a newspaper office 

 in London. And the Review of Reviews can 

 never be other than grateful to the man who co- 

 operated with me in the publication of its first three 

 nurnbers. Miss Friederichs tells the story of our 

 beginning with accuracy. But she omits to mention 

 that it was Newnes who fixed its title. I had pro- 

 posed to call it " The Sixpenny Monthly : a Review 

 of Reviews." One Sunday morning Sir George 

 walked over from Putney to meet me as I was coming 

 home from church. He said, " Don't you think it 

 would be better to reverse the title and call it 'The 

 Review of Reviews: a Sixpenny Monthly'?" As 

 the change was obviously an improvement, I assented 

 at once. One other omission may be mentioned. 

 After Sir George had described the difference between 

 the two kinds of journalism, he added, after describ- 

 ing his own style of journalism : " It is quite humble 

 and unpretentious ; but it does gather in the shekels." 

 The story of Newnes's life as told by Miss Friederichs 

 is a valuable addition to the history of the democratisa- 

 tion of literature. Sir George was a great pioneer, 

 and deserves to be held in grateful remembrance. 

 The book destroys many legends about his early days, 

 and gives in clear, sympathetic fashion the story of 

 his many achievements. We lay down the book with 

 a better appreciation than we ever had of the genial, 

 resourceful, kindly-hearted English gentleman who 

 founded TitBits, published the first number of the 

 Review of Reviews, and created the Westminster 

 Gazette. 



BOOKS OF travel. 



.Among the Books of Travel I give the first place 

 unhesitatingly to Mr. 11. Hesketh Prichard's Through 



