Heview of Beviews, l/il/is. 



LEADING ARTICLES. 



893 



PARAGRAPHS ABOUT PEOPLE. 



BARONESS ORCZY. 

 The chief article in the Bookman is 

 that, by Mr. Arthur Rutland, on 

 Baroness Orczy. Ten years ago the 

 Baroness's name, we are told, was un- 

 known in the libraries, but in thj years 

 that have passed since her first book was 

 published she has achieved rapid and 

 signal success as a writer both of novels 

 and plays. Baroness Orczy was born 

 in Hungary, and came to England when 

 she was fifteen. Her father being a dis- 

 tinguished musician, she passed her early 

 years in an atmosphere of music, but 

 having herself no special talent for 

 music, she studied art with considerable 

 success. With reference to " The Scarlet 

 Pimpernel," it is interesting to learn that 

 the play was written before the novel, 

 and that the novel was refused by a 

 dozen publishers. When the novel was 

 finally published it was received with a 

 chorus of acclaim both by critics and 

 the public, whereas the play was decried 

 by the critics, and hailed with enthu- 

 siasm by the public. 



BALFOUR AS POLITICIAN. 

 T. P. O'Connor contributes a sympa- 

 thetic sketch of the Right Hon. Arthur 

 J. Balfour to the Pall Mall Magasinc. 

 The writer outlines the ex-leader's first 

 appearance m the House of Commons, 

 and notes the apparent detachment of 

 the then member for the borough of 

 Hertford, and recounts his progress: — - 



I remember well the surprise when, not 

 long after his party came into power, the 

 papers announced in a line or two the 

 momentous fact that he had taken his pl.ice. 

 for the first time in a Cabinet Council, and 

 ranked among the rulers of the nation. Bni 

 he still remained an effaced figure. He 

 seemed to stroll into the House of CommonK 

 as one who was in it and yet not of it; and 

 in the stiff fights for ascendancy which men 

 have to win. in the struggle for supremacy 

 in the tiger-pit of the House of Common.s 

 he was a negligible quantity. _ And all the 

 time he was looking on scrutinisingly ; and the 

 languor was half a pose, but certainly al.so 

 half a reality. For Mr. Balfour has nontv 

 of the eager "and voracious ambition of tli'> 

 essential man of action; the distinction and 

 the mistery he lias gained have corne to hini, 

 they have never been sought by him. They 

 are' the slow reward of supreme intelligenf(>, 

 not of a pushful temperament. Anybody vv1k> 

 does not realise this docs not r<'alise eitht'ir 

 the man or his career. 



REMINISCENCES OF THE EMPRESS 

 FREDERICK. 

 To La Revue Catherine Kolb, who 

 knew her since 1873, has contributed a 

 most sympathetic article on the Em- 

 press Frederick. The writer describes 

 an incident which occurred at the time 

 when the aged Emperor William was 

 wounded by Nobiling. At first the con- 

 sequences were thought most grave, and 

 a moment when the Emperor had re- 

 covered consciousness was seized to get 

 him to sign a decree conferring, during 

 his illness, the Regency on the Crown 

 Prince. The Prince was in England, 

 and it was a day or two before he could 

 reach Berlin. On their arrival at the 

 station an enormous crowd pressed for- 

 ward to salute the Prince and the Prin- 

 cess. One lady precipitated herself to- 

 wards the Princess and kissed her hand, 

 and addressed her as " Majesty " ! At 

 once the Princess changed her gracious 

 manner, and, withdrawing her hand, she 

 exclaimed : " I am not the Empress, 

 madame." As soon as the Emperor re- 

 covered he resumed the reins of power, 

 and the Crown Prince retired into ob- 

 scurity. The Princess was much dis- 

 tressed, for she had hoped the Crown 

 Prince would now be able to carry out 

 some of his humanitarian ideas. From 

 this time disappointments and discour- 

 acrements of all sorts seemed to mar the 

 life of the Prince and Princess. After 

 the celebration of their silver wedding 

 there seemed to be little joy left in the 

 life of the Princess. It was at this time 

 that the misunderstandings between her 

 son, the present Kaiser, and herself 

 began, and the latent antipathy between 

 the Princess and Bismarck developed 

 into a violent hatred. The great crime of 

 the Chancellor was that he fomented the 

 disaffection of the young Prince from 

 his parents b\- trying to ])ersuade the 

 Emperor William that his grandson 

 alone was fit to be his successor. 



After having hoped so much from the 

 noble ideas of her husband, the Princess, 

 when she became Empress, must have 

 been filled with despair at the cruel irony 

 of fate when she found herself face to 

 face with the inexorable reality which 



