In Thamesl and. By Henry Wellington Wack. (G. P. Putnam's
Sons. 12s. 6d. net.)—" To one who has lived upon the great Mississippi," or "has cruised upon the great St. Lawrence," the Thames seems "an aqueous dwarf." So thought Mr. Weak; but he had reason to change his views. For practical purposes of life the Thames is much more "companionable," so to speak, than the giant streams of the West, and to this quality our author does full justice in this very agreeable volume. He begins, as duty bids, at the source of the Thames, which he finds at the tradi- tional Thames head, a conclusion in which most people will agree with him ; and he follows the river down as far as London. And he conducts us on this journey very pleasantly. We do not accept all his obiter dicta—his prognostications, for instance, of l3ritish decadence—but, on the whole, we find him and his friend agreeable companions. He does not know " Thamesland " quite as intimately as some Englishmen know it; but he has plenty to say that many Englishmen have never heard, and his apprecia- tion of the beauties and glories of the river is all that it should be. And he gives us a number of most admirably photographed illustrations. Nor must we forget his useful itinerary, and his not less useful "rule of the road."
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