A Talc of Two Brothers. By Mabel Richmond Brailsford. (Rupert
Hart-Davis. 16s.)
Or the infinite variations on the Wesley theme (and Miss Brailsford herself has already written a life of Susanna Wesley). the relationship between John and Charles is most worth the attention of the psycho- logist. Each, in his way, was a pathological case—Charles in the almost hypnotic fascina- tion wielded over him, by his brother, John in the exaggerated mother-fixation which coloured his unnatural relations with women. Even about their early close partnership there was something unhealthy, culminating as it did in a pledge on the part of each not to marry without the consent of the other. It is this, as the main source of their breach, on which Miss Brailsford concentrates, and she does not fail to make the most of its dramatic developments. She is clearly at pains not to take sides; yet it is partly due to her tendency to sidestep the other causes of antagonism, stemming from basic differ- ences in character and outlook, that Charles emerges as the villain of the piece. However, though she does not conceal her lack of sympathy with certain aspects of Methodism, Miss Brailsford gives an extremely sensitive analysis of Charles's gifts as a poet. But unless she had been prepared to go more deeply into the subject, she would have been wiser to omit the superficial judgement which she attempts concerning the influence of the movement on the Industrial Revolu- tion. Still, her portrait of the protagonists is both readable and informative, though one doubts whether, even yet, the last word has
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