Uccembcr 21, 1916 
LAND & WATER 
Books to Read 
By Lucian Oldershaw 
17 
TOOLE, the actor, intending to make a present 
of his " Autobiography " to an intelligent police- 
man who used to escort him from the theatre 
when he was acting in a certain provincial town, 
asked him if he liked Reminiscences. " Very much, 
sir," was the reply, " but I'm afraid there is no place 
open as late as this." The man, to my thinking, went 
to the root of the proposition. Tobacco, wine, a genial 
companion and an idle time — these provide the best 
conditions for dwelling pleasantly on past memories, 
whether your own or another's. Yet, there must be 
many who can enjoy reminiscences without these apcom- 
paniments, for the pubhshers have been telling us 
i^ecently that " Memoirs " are amongst their best seUing 
books. I fancy their readers are mostly of the sex to 
which the gossips are supposed to belong, for, in my 
experience, the writers of memoirs who, like Boswell, 
can provide a literary atmosphere which replaces the 
abo\-e' conditions are few and far between. And yet — 
though my literary conscience bids me plead for some 
sort of standard in " Memoirs " as in other writings — I 
must confess that I ha\e seldom read any such books 
without fmding something to interest me, either in what 
the author reveals or in what he conceals. The gossips 
are not really all of one sex.- ■ 
^ 4: :H )H >i< 
Here are three books of reminiscences which will each 
find an interested public, even in these days when the 
policeman's requirements are more difficult to satisfy. 
One is by a well-known politician, one by a well-known 
journalist, and the third by the widow of a well-known 
diplomatist, herself of great reputation as a wit and a 
social leader. Let us take the politician fust. In 
Parliamentary Reminiscences and Reficciiuns, 1868-1885 
(John Murray, los. 6d. net), Lord George Hamilton is 
mainly concerned with fighting over again the political 
battles of Disraeli v. Gladstone. In these days of 
national unity, there seems a cvuuous unreality about the 
warmth of political partisanship here shown. Lord 
George is stiff in his opinion of men and things, and 
seldom yields a political opponent the credit even of 
good intentions. In time of ■ peace this book — ^which 
in any case has real A'alue as an historical document — 
might well assist the renaissance of its author's old Party. 
He is quite sure that it was in the right both in principles 
and in practice during the period he was rising to be one 
of its leaders. In such men lies the strength of our 
English Party System. 
The Party System, however, has its dangers as is well 
illustrated, though without any such intention, in one 
passage of Lord George Hamilton's book, a passage 
which illustrates the cleverness of Bismarck's diplomacy. 
According to Lord (ieorge, Bismarck sent, through one 
of our ^lilitary Attaches at Berlin, a private message to 
Lord Salisbury to the effect that he found it impossible 
to carry on business with Gladstone's Ciovernment, and 
that he hoped Salisbury would take office. Shortly 
afterwards Salisbury did take office ; the manifestations 
of goodwill from Bismarck continued and— the cession 
of Heligoland took place. " But from the date of the 
cession of that island our relations steadily deteriorated." 
There are few things in the book quite so interesting as 
this is at the present moment. For the rest the chief 
interest of the book centres round Disraeli, to whom the 
author owed much of his political advancement, a debt 
which he pays with an honest hero-worship. Very 
characteristic was Disraeli's remark (which I believe 
also had another setting) when asked if he had seen the 
Nineteenth Century ? ~" No, my dear boy; I hate your 
new magazines. You will live to see the time when 
everybody can scribble, and nobody write." 
* * * * * 
Our journalist is Mr. T. II. S. Escott, of Standard and 
Fortnightly fame. His boolv is called Great Victorians 
(T. Fisher Unwin, I3s. 6d.), and it includes so many 
interesting names that a mere list of them would nearly 
fill this page. The study of the soldier group, Irom 
Wellington, of whom Mr. Escott has some interesting 
things to .sa}', to Wolseley, has a particular value just now. 
It is really an epitome almost entirely from an admini- 
strative point of view, of our military history. One .of 
the chief changes Mr. Escott notes is in the attitude of 
the chiefs of the Army to the private soldier. Wellington, 
according to him, believed that a soldier to be very good 
must, be a blackguard. What a different feeling in- 
spired the thoughts and utterances of Lord Roberts ! 
For the rest you may sit under the most interesting 
bishops, dine with the most prominent politicians, and 
hob-nob with the leading novelists and actors of the 
last half of last century. Only I should not recommend 
you to try and do too many of these things at the same 
time. With Jlr. Escott one name leads so rapidly to 
another that his style is sometimes both bewildered 
and bewildering. 
***** 
The last of our trio of memoir-makers is Dowager 
Lady Dufferin and Ava, who has pubhshed, on behalf of 
war charities, a new selection from her diaries and 
correspondence called My Russian and Turkish 
Journals (John Murray, los. 6d. net). These journals 
deal with the years 1879 — 1884, when the late Lord 
Dufferin was Ambassador, first at Petrograd and after- 
wards at Constantinople, i Though Lady Dufferin 
studiously avoids deahng with anything but the social 
side of ambassadorial life and is eminently discreet in 
her references to indi\iduals, tliese records give us some 
very entertaining pictures of life in the two capitals 
described, and occasionally vivid little bits of portraiture, 
which are witty without being malicious. One of the 
most interesting parts of the book describes a ^•isit to 
Egypt, and the sporting excitement of digging up Royal 
mummies. This is essentially a book that can be dipped 
into at odd moments with the certainty that something 
to arrest one's attention will always turn up. 
* * * * . * 
The war has been left to the end of my books this week, 
but it must not be left out completely. Here are two 
volumes of fiction that recall it, in one indirectly, the other 
directly. In reading More Tales by Polish Authors, 
translated by Else Benecke and IMarie Busch (Oxford, 
Blackwell, 5s. net), one is continually oppressed by one 
of the war's most pressing problems. The stories, as 
those in the previous collection, are powerful and affect- 
ing. Some are most mordant in their satire. " The 
Strange Sea," for example, placed in the collection of 
Life's Little Ironies, would make Mr. Thomas Hardy's 
tales almost playful in comparison. All of them re\cal 
an oppressed and troubled people, who, we hope, may raise 
their heads once more. It is pleasant to turn back 
from this land-locked country, with its disheartened 
peasantry, to our free and sea-girt land. 
^ 3|C 3|E 3|C *!• 
" Taffrail " has written in Pincher Martin, O.D. 
(W. R. Chambers, Ltd., 3s. 6d. net), the best naval book 
of the season. It is a lohg, detailed and comprehensive 
description of the life of an ordinary seaman. Taking 
such a one, it follows his career from the day he joins 
up to the "Battle of Jutland, the climax so far of 
modern naval history. Every sentence carries con- 
viction, and its deep sense of the humourous arises out 
of realities. For an intelligent boy who can appreciate the 
spirit of our seamen it is the ideal gift book this Christmas. 
* * * * * 
In The Weird Adventures of Professor Delapine 
(Routledge, 5s.), Mr. Lindsay Johnson has spoilt a fairly 
thrilling sensational story to argue at great length and 
with continual repetition the case of supernaturalism. 
If he had been induced to cut out all his arguments and 
his ([uotations and half his conversations, which often 
begin with s})arkle, but always end with complete flat- 
ness, like imperfectly aerated soda-water, his book might 
have had a big popular success, for there are some 
ingenious thrills in it. It is a book for skipping. 
