LAND AND WATER. 
BOOKS THAT EXCEL. 
Decembei ii, 1915. 
" Christopher Monck Duke of Albemarle.' By Hstelle Frances^ 
Ward. (John Murray.) 12s. Net. ' . < 
The life and exploits of this second Duke fif .\lbeinarle 
are so far overshadowed by those of liis kin^'-maldng father, 
that such a book as this presents almost the equixalent of a 
new story. In this Christopher's life was plenty of adventure, 
and he might well have won a more definite place in history, 
since lie was the only man who over made a success of Spanish 
treasure hunting. He was, also, an able Colonial governor, 
and with good reason his biographer points out that, had his 
recommendations been more seriously received by the home 
authorities, the fate of the American colonies of those days 
might have been a far different one. 
Christopher was returned member of Parliament for 
Devon at the age of thirteen, and won mention from Oldmixon. 
the Stuart historian, as one in the list .if prosecutors of Lord 
Chancellor Clarendon. His marriage, while still in his teens, 
is yet another proof that the Stuart ideas regarding years and 
discretion differed very materially from those of this twentieth 
century. Since this s<?cond duke died at the age of thirty-si.x. 
" far from all that made life good for him," his career was but 
a short one, in spite of its precocious beginnings. There is not 
wanting evidence that his death meant the los.s of one of the 
best Colonial governors that his or any preceding age had 
produced. 
This biograpliy of a man who deserves to he mor." generally 
remembered is an able compilation, and at the same time a ver\- 
interesting work. It is historically valuable, too, for the 
evidence it affords with regard to certain phases of the later 
Stuart period. 
" The First HunJred Thousand." By Ian Hay. (Blackwood and 
Sons.) 6s. net. 
The formation and training of the first regiments of the 
new armies is a story that has been told many times and from 
many points of view, and readers of " Blackwood's " are 
already acquainted with many of the cliaracters who figure in 
these pages, for this is one of the best of the many accounts 
of the formation of a unit of " K (i)." It is the story, as its 
author insists, of the making of stubborn trades unionists into 
good soldiers in record time ; it is, however, more than that. 
Whether the matter under review be the musketry 
practice of a platoon, the funeral of Wee Peter, the battalion's 
first casualty, the shrewd humour of Wagstaffe, or the serious 
work of the battalion in the trenches, the story is that of men 
we know and respect — and the respect grows as each page is 
turned. It is possible, in reading, to gather some idea of the 
views of the men actually " out there." The author's own view 
changed with the increase of munitions and the prospect of 
the " big push " of Loos, and the story of the trench fighting 
ends on a far different note from that of its beginning ; its 
beginning is doubt, but its end is certainty. The book ends 
with Loos and a promise of further records of the doings of 
" K (i) " in the future, and those who read this volume will 
take good care to read the next. 
Humour, pathos, comedy and tragedy have seldom been 
better combined than in these pages ; the author has told a 
great story in simple and dramatic fashion, and his work will 
rank very high among the mass of war literature. It is worthy 
of unqualified commendation, and we wish it the great success 
that it deserves. 
" Betty Gricr." By J. Lalng Waugh. (W. and R. Chambers.) 
2s. 6d. 
Betty, the old Scots nurse, is a Mrs. W iggs type of 
heroine, though with less humour, as befits a Scotswoman, 
and a good deal more of sentiment. The story concerns 
a yoimg Scots lawyer who, badly injured in a fire, comes to 
his country home for a full year's convalescence, and by the 
end of the year meets and marries the ladv of. his dreams. 
The main point of the book, however, is Betty's kindly 
shrewdness and her influence on the lives amoiig which her 
lot is cast. 
The book is by no means devoid of humour. Nathan, 
Betty's husband, by way of cheering up the invalid lawyer, 
counsels him to move to another room in the.' house, since 
getting a coffin out of the room that he occupies would be 
such a difficult business ; Betty herself evokes mdtc than one 
smile from the reader, and though the story is slight it makes 
an extremely readable book, displaying the best and most 
attractive sides of Scottish character. 
" Zeppelin Nights." By Violet Hunt and Ford Madox Hueffer. 
(John Lane.) 6s. . 
' Stories told out of history, rather in the manner of Puck 
Of Pook'a Hill, are threaded together in this volume hv the 
little narrative of Serapion, the man who told the stories on 
•■ ZenueHil-nights," when parties of ultra-nervous Londoners 
waif f.i Uie ail-ships that did not come. Serap.on s 
'Ln storv is a poor and a thm one ; the earlier 
scraps ofhistorv. such as the departure of the Romany 
from I.vmpne and the coming of the Saxons the commg 
to Athens of Pheidippides with the news of Maiathon 
and Rouen market-place on the day of the burning of 
Joan, arc presented with such art as to make them real 
This level however, is not maintained throughout, and the 
crib froniHardv of the legend of Napoleon's landing is un- 
forgiveablc difl-erent though the presentment and setting may 
be The book as a whole is extremely uneven, hnc passages 
alternating with sheer banalities ; it contains enough of good 
and genuine work, however, to render it worthy of attention. 
•' A Woman in the Wilderness." By Winifred James. (Chapman 
and Hall.) 7s. 6d. net. 
" \ jumble of rough lumber huts and stoics, of corrugated 
iron roofing and weather-beaten red and yellow and green paint. 
It is like a smack on the face of heaven." 
Thus the writer describes the town that was her imme- 
diate en\-iromnent in the wilderness of Panama. Round about 
the town was the rank vegetation of the tropics, and the rest 
was clav. rain, and heat. This book is the record of a year 
sijcnt in such surroundings, with a husband engaged in 
banana exporting, a succession of ineflicient servants, a surfeit 
(if tinned foods and an entire absence of roads, normal com- 
panionships, books of the day, and other elementary necessi- 
ties of cixilised life. A keen sense of humour, and a \ery 
evident appreciation of the artistic side of life renders the book 
interesting, monotonous though the life must have been. 
At intervals, news of the earlier phases of the war came to 
this settlement in the wilds, and reflections on the great 
struggle arc mixed with the native boy's grief over the slaying 
of a pet turkey, with little hints of the extreme immorality of 
the settlement, and with witty descripti\'e touches on the life 
of its inhabitants. The writer is keenly observant, alive to 
the magnitude of trifles, and yet the sense of proportion is so 
well maintained that this mosaic picture of wilderness life is 
always attractive — in print, though there must have been 
depressing hours in the reality. It is a book to enjoy. 
" The Greek Tradition." By J. A. K. Thcn-.son. (George Allen 
and Unwin.) 5s. net. 
The essays which comprise this book are noteworthy, not 
only for the author's intimate knowledge of Greek literature 
and art, but also for a range of \-ision and breadth of knowledge 
rarely found in the specialist, especially in the student of such 
a subject as this. Thus the book is not merely a criticism or a 
series of criticisms, but rather a definite addition to existing 
knowledge of great (ireek figures, and a setting forth of the 
underlying forces of Greek art. 
The author shows how originality had no place in the 
form of Greek literature; there was a definite form for the 
epic poem, just as there was for a single column of the Parthe- 
non, and the epic poems are as so many columns — no man 
sought originality of form, but rather maintained tradition, a 
lesson that Whitmanesque minor poets of to-day, lacking the 
genius of \\'hitman, would do well to study. It is an iilumina-r 
ting suggestion that in the Alcestis Euripides tried to create 
a new form. 
The intimate relation between traditional myths of the 
forerunners of Greek development, and what is known as the 
classic period of (^reek art, is never lost sight of. , The essays 
on " Greek Country Life " and " Mother and Daughter " — 
the latter a fine reproduction of the nature myth — arc not 
only studies in the true classic spirit, but also expressions of 
creati\-e genius. The book as a whole is scholarly, delicate 
work, illuminated by imaginative power as well as real iivsight 
to (ireek thought and ideals. 
Sir George Alexander, in arranging a Shakespeare revi\-al 
at the St. James'sTheatre for the Christmas holidays, has, we 
believe, acted wisely, and the production of The McrchanI 
of Venice, by Mr. Matheson Lang is in every way admirable. 
Mr. Lang's Shylock stands out as a very fine performance ; 
it is one which will attract all students of Shakespeare pro- 
ductions ; some there arc who will see in Mr. Matheson Lang 
the best Shylock of his generation. The whole play is 
excellently staged, and the direct appeal which is made to 
\-oung people home for the holidays should not fall on deaf 
ears, for the writer happens to know that to children of bright 
inttlligence in their teens, the Merchattt of Venice is a genuine 
delight, and for the future they give a free pardon with a fair 
grace to the author for writing so many of their schoolbooks 
by reason of the laughter and excitement which he can arouse 
in them when they meet him on the stage. 
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