136 



DISCOVERY 



could be so diverse as these two men's — a fact which is 

 vividly illustrated by the juxtaposition of their letters in 

 the second volume. It is, indeed, a peculiar sensation to 

 turn over a page of high idealism, or some description of 

 natural beauty expressed in the clear, suave prose of which 

 the lyric poet was a master, and to be plunged on the next 

 into a whirlwind of hot-blooded emotions, irony, wit, and 

 vi\ddly told raconte produced by the brilliant satirist. 



The centenary of Shelley's death, off Lerici in the Gulf 

 of Spezia, takes place in July of tliis year. The mystery 

 attaching to the swamping of his boat in a sudden storm 

 has never been completely cleared up. But a letter in 

 this volume written by Byron to his bankers in September 

 of the same year lends additional weight to the belief that 

 the boat was rammed during the storm by a Genoese fishing 

 felucca in the belief that Byron was on board with £$o. 

 " The extreme liberality of Mr. Shelley's disposition," 

 BjTon remarks, " generally left him in arrear, and the day 

 before he was lost he borrowed of me fifty pounds which 

 were on board in cash when the boat went down." In 

 November 1875 Trelawny's ^ daughter wrote to liim from 

 Rome concerning a death-bed confession made at Spezia 

 by an old sailor," that he was one of the crew that ran 

 down the boat containing Shelley and Williams, which was 

 done under the impression that the rich ' milord Byron ' 

 was on board with lots of money." The letter confirmed 

 Trelawny in his suspicions, and most biographers of Shelley 

 have adopted this explanation of the tragedy. What still 

 remains imcertain is whether there was any motive of 

 revenge as well as greed. Byron had had several quarrels 

 just before the disaster, and according to the old fisherman 

 " they did not intend to sink the boat, but to board her 

 and murder Byron." 



Leigh Hunt,^ a well-known contemporary literary critic, 

 to whom Byron usually showed the harder side of his 

 character, said that in his cups he became a changed person, 

 and that it was then that he felt he was talking with the 

 " true Byron " — a man only too desirous to give and 

 receive an intense degree of sympathy. That softer side 

 emerges often in these letters, where in writing to his 

 most intimate friends we again encounter the mind of 

 the " true Byron." As we have already noted, hisdeformed 

 foot accounted more than anything else for the cynical 

 twist in his mind. Like Pope, the satirical poet of the 

 eighteenth century, he suffered from what our modern 

 experts would call " dwarf psychology," though there is 

 of course no doubt who was the greater man and the greater 

 poet of the two. 



E. L. 



Ocean Research and the Great Fisheries. By G. C. L. 

 Howell, M.A. (Clarendon Press, Oxford, i8s.) 



Recently a leading Fish Trades Journal assured us that 

 " the man who produces a really thoughtful work on the 

 economics and the future of the fishing industry will 

 deserve well of the nation." Presumably tliis book has 



' See RiCjrds (f Shelley , Byyjn and the .iuthor. Pp. 112-113. 

 (George Routledge & Sons, Ltd.) 



• SeeThe Autobiography if Leigh Hitiil. Vol. II. (Constable 

 & Co.. Ltd.) 



been written in reply to that suggestion. Mr. Howell's 

 qualifications for writing on our Sea Fisheries were obtained 

 when he acted as Director of Fisheries in the Panjab ; his 

 knowledge of Ocean Research is based on a more slender 

 foundation, since he is devoid of scientific training. Mr. 

 Howell is an " expert " member of the Advisory Committee 

 on Fishery Research to the Development Commissioners, 

 and a member of the Fresliwater Fisheries sub-committee 

 to the same body. His book contains thirty-two chapters 

 and ninety notes of interrogation, on the average about 

 three to the chapter. The notes of exclamation are nearly 

 as numerous, and the book is by no means free from minor 

 errors and misprints. It purports to give an account of 

 the natural history and economics of our principal marine 

 fish. 



In 1921 Lemon Soles to the weight of 31,714 cwts. and 

 value of /i53,023 were landed in England and Wales. 

 Catfish and Dabs, which are more abundant and valuable 

 than the Lemon Sole, are not mentioned by Mr. Howell. 

 A chapter of barely four pages is devoted to the organisa- 

 tion of Ocean Research, another of less than five pages 

 to the collection of fishery statistics, and there is a final 

 chapter of fourteen pages on the " Small Game " of the 

 sea. 



Two extracts will suffice to give an idea of the author's 

 literary style : 



" Why do some herrings contract infant marriages, 

 while others are still bachelors and spinsters in austere 

 middle age ? " (pp. 173-4). 



" The Norwegians — who are the ' sea-daddies of the 

 world ' — can be relied upon always to ' think big 



(P- I79*- 



The only redeeming feature of the book is the excellence 

 of the illustrations, the best of which appear to have been 

 prepared by the scientific men engaged by the Local Sea 

 Fisheries Committees, bodies for which on more than one 

 occasion Mr. Howell has publicly expressed his contempt. 



J- T. J. 



East Carelia and Kola Lapmark. Described by Finnish 

 scientists and philologists. Edited by Th. Homen. 

 Illustrations and Maps. (Longmans, Green & Co., 

 2IS.) 



The original of this work appeared in Finnish in 1918, 

 and the present volume is a translation of the later 

 Swedish edition. It comprises chapters on all aspects of 

 the geography, history, and social conditions of that 

 part of Arctic Russia which lies south of the Arctic Ocean, 

 between the White Sea and the frontier of Finland. The 

 population in that region, especially in the Kola peninsula 

 or Kola Lapmark, is far from dense, and does not enjoy a 

 high degree of prosperity, due largely to conditions beyond 

 the control of man. The Carelians, who have given their 

 name to the southern and more low-lying part of this 

 region, are a branch of the Finnish race, and are found also 

 in Eastern Finland. Their language is closely related to 

 Finnish. In Carelia they form the majority of the 

 inhabitants, except along the coast and in the White Sea 

 ports, where Russians preponderate. But in Kola Lap- 

 mark they are in a distinct minority, except, perhaps, in 



