This Week's Books
THERE is really not much to say about Mr. Sedgwick's new life of Cortes the Conqueror (Lane, illustrated, 16s.), save to 'register the fact of its appearance and to remark that the narrative travels along with a decorous but somewhat heavy- footed gait. The sources on which it is based are those which have been available for generations and already used by Prescott for instance, who (so Mr. Sedgwick thinks) " hardly does justice to C,ortes' brilliant unscrupulousness." Mr. Sedgwick himself mainly depends for his material. on Bernal Diaz, whom he describes as "slow-minded, honest and fair " —an appraisement which reasonably well sums up the charac- ter of Mr. Sedgwick's own work. On p. 353 we find Warren Hastings credited with " amazement at his own moderation." It is curious that Clive also made the same remark.
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