YOUNG ORLAND. By the Hon. Herbert Asquith. (Hutchinson. 7s. 6d.)—This
is a quiet and pleasantly written biography of a young man who is the adopted son of a country squire. Mr. Asquith does not convince the reader that there is any particular reason why young Orland's parentage should not have been more normal, for his up- bringing is entirely of the conventional kind. We have detailed accounts of his childhood, schooldays, and career at Oxford, but it must be confessed that these accounts are entirely objective and there is nothing particularly original about them. The story, indeed, hardly wakes up till the very last chapters, when, after a considerable struggle with unexpected poverty, Orland goes to the War. Here the description of the alternation of spells at the Front and leave makes a picture which grips the attention. The alarm at St. Quentin on March 21st is well described, but we are not given the retreat, for Orland is wounded on the evening of the first day and dies in hospital in the next and final chapter. The book is competent and carefully written, but it does not possess the divine spark, and the characters leave only a dim impression on the mind.
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