MID-VICTORIAN MEMORIES.*

Tatar is a' certain sadness in reviewing the last book: written

by an author so long familiar to the British public as Miss Betham-Edwards. A- year or two ago she kept her Diamond

Jubilee as a writer ; and she wished to celebrate the end of ' those sixty years of work by the appearance of this volume- of

recollections, dealing with some of the more or less famous people whom she had known in the course of her long life.

Except her great age, there was no reason why she should not have enjoyed the pleasure of seeing and handling this new work of hers, as eagerly and impatiently looked forward to, we are

told, as though it had been the first book of a: young writer. She had even corrected the proofs; and more than that, being.

at eighty-two " still keenly alive intellectually," she had begun one new novel and projected another, while her:first, The White House by the Sea, published in 1857, was about to be reprinted in a Diamond. Jubilee edition. This was a great gratification to Miss Betham-Edwards. So also was the appearance of her Suffolk novel, The Lord of the Harvest, in the series of- " The -

World's Classics" in 1913. She had indeed enjoyed a large- share of literary succegs, and even at the time of her death, early in 1919, might be counted among the most popular of

English novelists.

And this was not nearly all. Her friend "Sarah Grand," who prefaces this book with a sympathetic personal sketch which might very well be expanded into a volume, reminds us that Miss Betham-Edwards's novels

" were but a light part of her output. She had to her credit besides, in the solider parts, some of the beet works ever written on French life, organization, and character. In 1891 the French Government, considering that her writings had materially helped to promote the sympathy and understanding which- resulted in the Entente Cordiale, made her art Oifitier de 'Instruc- tion Publigue de France. She was, I believe, the Brat English officer of the Order."

The Republican -Government of those years had indeed reason to be grateful to Miss Betham-Edwards, for she made herself their champion in regard to many contentious questions, and her accounts of France and things French were sometimes accepted at their face-value by readers who had no -means of discounting statements rather often coloured by religious and social prejudice and one-sided information. However this might be, her books of French travel were always picturesque and readable, full of interesting study and careful if narrow observation.

"Sarah Grand's" short memoir throws a pleasant light on Miss Betham-Edwards as she was known to her friends. She was, we may well believe, a good and faithful- friend, and a

delightful companion to those with whom she found herself in sympathy. In character she was strongly individual; her

opinions were as unalterable as her habits of life, and strangers

• AfiebViciorias Memories. By Matilda Betham-Edwards, °Mier der Instruc- t/On Publique de France, rte., tee. With a Personal Sketch by Mrs. Sarah Oran& With a Portrait. London : John Miirray. I10a. Csi. net.) found her formidbble in argument. Her fined -and independent viewg had little toleration for some modern developments of firelight and manners. Her Liberalism and her religious ideas were mid-Victorian- of the George Eliot and ilortaightby Review type. But her youth of spirit and her keen interest in the details of everyday life never failed, either in writing or conversation : her liveliness of touch survived her eighty years.

she present volume is a proof- of this. Ranging from entry Patmore to. Mr. John' Murray, Miss Bethaan-Edwards has something to say of eighteen or twenty men and women whom she knew well or slightly, and none of.' these swift pen- sketches, easy and often discursive, fails to make the desired impression on a reader's mind. It is all set 'down, -if not always without malice, with keen insight and generally just appreci- ation. One of the most curious sketches, and perhaps the best worth reading, is that which touches. an the home life of George Eliot and Mr. Lewes, and includes George Eliot's and the writer's most intimate friend, Mine. Bodichon. The picture of George Eliot is attractive, with something that makes for tears ; that of Mr. Lewes and his jokes, very much the 'contrary.

The youngest of Victorian novelists advances timidly yet

courageously on the datzling- scene. Them in the centre of the room; as if enthroned, sat the Diva; at her feet in a semi- circle gathered philosophers, scientists, men of letters, poete, satiate— in fina the leading spirits of the great Victorian age."

The kindly reception that followed, with many other lightly' described-, experiences, were well worth remembering, and the book as a whole will undoubtedly be, enjoyed, not without - tribute of cordial regret, by readers of to-day.