THIS FOR REMEMBRANCE. By Bernard Lord Coleridge. (Fisher Unwin. 15s.)
THIS FOR REMEMBRANCE. By Bernard Lord Coleridge. (Fisher Unwin. 15s.)
LORD COLERIDGE forestalls criticism by saying that this is " a slight book "—and so it is On the other hand, it is a very" pleasant one. It begins as an autobiography, but very soon the author abandons what would seem to be his first intention
and gives us long extracts from the Diary of his grandfather, Sir John Taylor Coleridge, followed by disconnected, chatty chapters relating to the Law Courts, the stage, the House of Commons, and containing a few good stories and much agreeable criticism of life. Sir John's Diary, is perhaps the part of the book best worth reading. He meets Scott but gives
us no convincing picture, even of his appearance. He see 3 a good deal of "my uncle Sam" (the poet), but takes rather a priggish
view of him, saying, " I cannot say that his conversation instructs or amuses me much." He stays with Wordsworth and tells enough to make the reader sigh to hear more and in more detail. He is an eye-witness, speaking at first hand, and as such, interesting, but it is the fact of this privilege that gives glamour to his narrative which is not in itself very illuminating.
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