LAND AND WATER 
June 19, 1915 
BOOKS OF THE WEEK 
A LITERARY REVIEW 
"The English Countryside." By Ernest C. Pul- 
broolc. (Batsford.) 7s. 6d. net. 
Mr. Pulbrook's book is assuredly a labour of love. lie 
does not tell us in what way he explored so many villages 
and country towns, and the remoter hills and rivers and coasts, 
but we may be sure that many a time he has wandered on foot, 
travelling from day to day to new places, and lingering 
where the attraction was strong. He is familiar with foot- 
paths ; he knows the charm of ancient inns ; he has traced 
rivers from their moorland origins to their outlets on the sea. 
He has covered indeed a large subject, for England is a big 
place for the man who tra\cls on foot, who dallies for hours 
in some inland creek or by the parapet of an old bridge, for 
whom each new field and village is a fresh adventure, who 
marks in his memory each stile, each stone-cross, and village 
green. He has not attempted to take one locality after another, 
exhausting each. In that way he might have filled a hundred 
volumes. And yet, in generalising, he is aware that the charm 
of England lies in its infinite variety ; that the flats of the Fen- 
land are not the flats of Somerset ; that the hills of Derby- 
shire are not the hills of Surrey ; that the Severn and the 
Thames, incomparable rivers both, are extraordinarily different. 
He has started from the coast of England, playing on the 
topic of its many varieties and its history, thence he has 
pursued " quiet creeks," and lakes, to the running waters " 
of rivers and streams. He considers in turn fords, bridges, 
fields, sheep-pastures, foot-paths, by-roads, villages, towns, 
inns, and wayside houses, and discourses on the seasons. 
He makes the transition from generahty to detail with skill. 
If it is fair to mention faults in a book so pleasing as this, 
we should say that he too often bids us " pause and admire," 
that the wonder and sweetness of the country are too seldom 
appreciated in silence. It is a book which, gentle and genuine 
and intimate as it is, will charm those who know their country- 
side, and should tell much to those who, living abroad, know 
it rather through Uterature and hearsay. The illustrations 
are a particularly attractive feature. They are mostly from 
photographs which show characteristic landscapes — woodland, 
field, river, hill and coast — and they are excellently reproduced. 
"Napoleon in Exile: St. Helena (1815-1831)." By 
Norwood Young. Illustrated. (Stanley Paul.) 
3 vols. 33s. net. 
It might have been supposed that there was no more 
to be said about those last dismal years in which Napoleon 
dragged out a mean existence in St. Helena. They have 
attracted the attention of many eminent historians, including 
our own Lord Rosebery ; but there is no longer much ground 
for serious controversy. Forsyth vindicated the reputa' ion 
of Sir Hudson Lowe more than sixty years ago, and Mr. ' 
Norwood Young, after ransacking the reports in the Record 
OfiSce, and examining the contemporary evidence of diaries, 
letters, and reports of the Foreign Commissioners, makes the 
case for Napoleon worse rather than better. He has collected 
every anecdote, every shred of evidence that any reasonable 
person interested in the decaying prodigy can ever want ; 
he has visited the island of St. Helena, spent five weeks at 
Longwood, and prepared elaborate plans of the island and 
of Napoleon's house. He has drawn largely upon the collec- 
tions of Mr. A. M. Broadley and others who have enabled him 
to reproduce prints and caricatures. Here then is the whole 
of that " last phase," with every little detail set down labor- 
iously and without ornament ; Napoleon playing reversi and 
cheating at cards ; shutting himself up in his room and 
giving himself airs when visited by the Governor ; rnakin'^ 
his attendants stand till they were ready to drop, or revolt^ 
plotting through O'Meara or any other wretch who would 
lend himself to futile conspiracy ; drawing out elaborate 
lists of petty complaints ; dictating his letters and losing his 
temper ; stewing for hours in a hot bath ; making himself 
troublesome and ridiculous to everyone. In the later years 
of his Empire Napoleon had demeaned himself by monstrous 
vanities and follies ; but the man-of-action dominated the 
peacock in him. At the end it was the peacock only that 
remained. 
"The Qermans and Africa." By Evans Lewin. 
With Introduction by Rt. Hon. Earl Grey. (Cassell.) 
los. 6d. net. 
The question of the German colonies in South Africa is 
one which deserves more attention than it has yet received. 
Sir Harry Johnston has urged the necessity of stripping 
Germany of her African Colonies ; Mr. Arnold Toynbee has 
urged the contrary. Mr. Evans Lewin propounds no policy. 
He gives us the facts. He describes the founding of the 
German colonial system in Africa and the " diplomatic and 
sometimes peculiar processes by which it was constantly 
enlarged." He insists that the Germans have failed in their 
native policy, because they have adhered to the " mailed 
fist methods and sledge-hammer proceedings of the military," 
and because their colonial officials have not attempted to 
understand or sympathise with the people. The results have 
been incessant revolts, bloodshed, and a depletion of the native 
labour reserves. On the other hand Herr Dernburg has 
infused a new energy into Germany colonial policy which has 
led to a revival of their South African trade. "Less money 
has been spent upon the trap,->ings of officialdom : more money 
has been devoted to providing avenues of trade." .<\n im- 
portant point to bear in mind is this : " Unlike the British 
The Next War 
"War breeds war as money 
begets money." 
"The infection of war is with 
us from the nursery." 
"The invested interests of war 
?? 
are gigantic. 
"The price of nationality is war. 
The boundaries of nations are 
drawn in blood." 
"The next war is fixed by the 
life of the generation now being 
born." 
From Israel ZangwilVs powerful 
article in the July number of " Nash's 
Magazine"— Out to-day. Sixpence. 
New Kdltlon (18th), aoth, Ig. 6d., Board,-* Is. Of all BookaeUere, or post free from 
the Publishers. 
THE DIETETIC CURE OF OBESITY. 
WITH a CHAPTER on GOUT and its DIETETIC TREATMENT 
,^„ By Dr. Y0RKE-DAVIE3. 
CONTENTS^Eylls of Corpulency. Dangerous conditions due to Corpulency, Buoh M 
Weak Heart, Gout, *o. Diet the only safe and permanent cure at any age. Quack 
Medicines to reduce weigtit dangerom and useless. Evils of Over-eating and 
Sedentary Habits. Food in its relation to Work, E.xercise, &c. Analysis and com- 
pOBitipn 01 some largely advertised secret preparations for reducing weight. 
LONDON: CHATTO <t WINDUS, 111, St. Martin's Lane. W.C. 
igb 
