16 JUNE 1877, Page 20

My Life, from 1815 to 1849. By Charles Loftus. 2

vols. (Hurst and Blackett).—In a previous work Mr. Loftns gave the world a narra- tive of his adventures by sea. In this he presents himself to us in the character, first, of an officer (joining the Army in the year after the battle of Waterloo), and then of a country gentleman. He relates at length his experiences as aide-de-camp to the governor of one of the Channel Islands, and certain political campaigns in the county of Nor- folk, with their alternations of victory and defeat. Mr. Loftus himself is a very staunch Tory, and probably believes in Protection, the Navigation Laws, Protestant ascendancy, and other things which his party have been educated out of. He cannot conceive that there should be any real cause for discontent against the powers that are. If there is, it is all brought about by the "Radicals," who spend their time, he thinks, in mischievously stirring up dis- affection among an innocent people, who, but for them, would be per- fectly contented with squires, and parsons, and game laws, and all the social order which makes England a heaven on earth. His absolute in- nocence of any notion that the world is not made for the enjoyment of the upper class is quite surprising. Of course it makes his book amusing, though not precisely in the way in which he intends it to amuse. Naturally he is pre-scientific. How delightfully simple is his

theory of the origin of jet, which he tells us he has often tried in vain to ascertain from the lapidaries,--"It may have been dropped from the trading collier-vessels, the surging of the waves hardening and cleansing it." And how shall we describe his belief that the cholera was sent to punish a village called Great Denham because the inhabitants would not help to put out a fire? Ho has some entertaining stories,— one, for instance, of Lord Exmouth, who, struck by a chain-shot in the mouth, and losing his set of false teeth, called out, "There goes £30, by St. George." We wonder whether this was originally told to the Marine officer on board.