312 



J he Review of Reviews. 



March iO, 1<J06. 



THE NATIONAL REVIEW. 



The Nutional Review is very entertaining reading. 

 The frank, turious outpouring of the editorial wrath 

 upon Mr. Balfour is indicative of much suppressed 

 feeling in the I'nionist camp. But even the direst 

 extremity of wrath could hardly justify the eugg^- 

 tion that Mr. Long should be promoted to be the 

 leader of the Opposition, with Mr. Ballour and Mr. 

 Chamberlain as his lieutenants. There are the usual 

 mischievous articles stirring up strife between Eng- 

 land and Germany. "Ignotu«^' describet^ " the Ger- 

 man Emperor's crusade against the entente cordiale 



apparently not witting of the fact that one Gennan 



complaint against Enghmd is that we have crusaded, 

 and successfully crusaded, against every attempt on 

 the part of the Kaiser to arrive at an entente with 

 France. Mr. H. W. Wilson warns us by the horrible 

 fate ot Napoleon 111. not to neglect the warnings of 

 alarmists. An Irish Nationalist, in a spirited article 

 which mav be oomniendod to Mr. i'erks, declares that 

 Home Kule is Uome Uuin in Ireland. Sir Kowland 

 Blenneriiassett praises Mr. Walter Long up to the 

 skies as Chief Secretary tor Ireland, and Mr. Talbot 

 Baines describes the movement which lias led to the 

 establishment of Iniversities in the North of Eng- 

 land. Mr. Sewell writes on " New Zealand and Bri- 

 tish Football." The articles of Mr. Keir Hardie and 

 Mr. Garrett are noticeil elsewhere. Maximilian Har- 

 den'ft attack upon tiie foreign policy of von Bulow is 

 translated from the Zukunft under the title " Myti- 

 titication.' The precedent might be adopted with ad- 

 vantage elsewhere. Miss Edith Balfour, writing on 

 '• Shaw and Super-Shaw,"' discusses ' Major Bar- 

 bara '■ uitii appreciation and acumen. 



BLACKWOOD'S MAGAZINE. 



Black wmd's makes a fair average number. Tlie 

 present Warden of Wadliani writes of a former War- 

 den of Wadham. John Wilkins, who married Croui- 

 well's sister, was a friend of Evelyn, and ap- 

 parently of everyone else with whom he came in 

 contact, and wals, nevertheless, a notorious '• tnni- 

 ji^er"— in fact, this plea.saiit biographical paper is 

 entitled ■ An Oxford Trimmer." Wilkms, however, 

 in the intervals of his ••trimming," found time to do 

 much work both u.seless and useful. He had a hand 

 in the founding of the Royal Society, sometimes in- 

 deed being called the founder of it. A mere Vicar ot 

 Bray, tlu^ writer contends, could not have won so 

 much affectionate regard from so wide and diverse a 

 circle of friends. 



The writer of " Musings Without Method" reviews, 

 not altoc^ether favourablv, Mr. Winston ChurcliiU's 

 Life of his father. He hnds '•the record of intrigue, 

 the adulation of adroitness, .somewhat fatiguing, and 

 thinks there are few who will accept the son'^; Hatter- 

 ino' estimate of his father's attainments and devo- 

 tioii. The book does not answer the rjuestion whether 

 Lord Randolph had in him the makings of a states- 

 man. The reviewer in Bhickiroo'Vs, Jiowever, cannot 

 think he had. . 



Mr. Andrew Balfour has a very well-written paper 

 describing his vovage up the Nile "'To Equatoria," 

 that is, to Central Africa, north of Uganda. A clear 

 idea is given of the scene along the mighty river, of 

 the tribes, the variety of birds and animals, and 

 last, but not least, the Nile sudd. 



Mr. 15arr.v Pain has a poem, '" The Dream of the 

 Dead World," for which I do not care so much as for 

 Blackwood's poems as a rule. Colonel Hanbun.- Wil- 

 liams contributes some scenes from the • Life of 

 Field-Marshal Soult " : and there are several other 

 papers of loss importance. 



THE WORLDS WORK. 



The Februai->- number of the ll"or?d'« Wark is 

 largely taken up with an illustrated account of the 

 General J'^lection. the illustrations being very gotxl. 

 The articles would be much better as a rule if less 

 scrappy. Tucked away at the end is much interesting 

 information, taken from the liaUuuy News, as to the 

 new tubt^s being constructed in Ix)ndon, and as to the 

 proposed electrification of the L. B. and S. C. Rail- 

 wa.v. 



Mr. Hamilton Talbot describes the proposed tele- 

 phone between London and New York, an invention 

 p<Mfectetl by German engineers. Long-distance tele- 

 jilioiiing through Mibmarine cables between the two 

 cities he thinks (luite within sight. 



From an article on Engli.sh canals we are remindetl, 

 in view of the J{oyal Commission to inquire into them 

 that we have in England 3954 miles of canals and 

 inland navigations, of which, however, 1399 miles — 

 more than one-thir<l — are in the hands of railway 

 companit\«, and nearly 435 miles are more or less 

 abaiulonetl. A li;-t of English canals is given, with 

 tlieir mileage and control. Mr. .J. L. C. Booth de- 

 scribe.s the remainder of his journey from London to 

 Liveip<Mil b.v canal. 



There is a paper on the artistic ironwork produced 

 by th<> villagers of Thoniham, Norfolk, near Hunstan- 

 ton, wliero, under the direction of tlu> village school- 

 master, with help from the lady of the Manor, a lost 

 industry lia.s been bir)ught back — hand-wrought iron- 

 work. So fine and <lelicate is the work turned out, 

 that instead of sending orders out of Englan<l. Lon- 

 don arti.sts will send them to Thornham. Protec- 

 tionists talking ol d.ving industries, take note. Lord 

 Roth.M-liildV gates at Tring have been done here : and 

 the King and the late Queen have given orders. A 

 hanging lamp in the hall at Sandringham wa.s exe- 

 cuted here, and is considered an artistic marvel. 



A NEW LITERARY QUARTERLY. 



Profe-ssor .John G. Robertson is e<liting an interest- 

 ing new literary (juarterly called the Modern Lan- 

 quage lie new. The fir.st number was issued in Octo- 

 ber, and the present January number is the second. 



It opens with an article by Mr. F. W. Moorman nji 

 the dram.atic ghost. The writer traces the journey of 

 the ghost from Greek tragedv to Shakespeare, and 

 says the starting-point of the dramatic ghost is to be 

 found in the tragedies of Aeschylus — the ghost of 

 Darius in the •" Pei-sae," and that of Clytemnestra 

 in the '• Eumenides." The ghost of Clytemnestra is 

 the first of a long line of revenge-ghosts. 



Mr. W. Bang contributes an article, in German, on 

 Ben Joiison, and foreign literature is represented by 

 notes on the Pla.vs of Lope de Vega by Mr. H. \. 

 Rennert, and an article on Dante by Mr. W. W. 

 •Jackson. There are reviews of new books in various 

 languages, which are of interest to the student of 

 literature, and a bibliography of new publications on 

 literary topics. 



The controversv, 'Freeman versus Froude," is cha- 

 racteristically dealt with bv Mr. Andrew Lang in 

 CnrnhiU. He says that after reading Mr. Herbert 

 Paul's life of Froude he is more than ever convinced 

 that it is impossible for any man to be a historian. 

 •What we nee<l is a man of genius like Mr. Froude, 

 to search and to write a history : and then that his- 

 toi-y must be revi.sed and corrected by seventy scien 

 tific hi.storians, after which the man of genius re- 

 writes his book, this time impeccably." 



