THERE have been few reputations which have grown so steadily
with the passing of time as that of the author of
these letters. In the ten years that preceded his appointment as Prime Minister he was regarded by great numbers of his fellow-countrymen not merely without approval but without respect. His patriotism was doubted, his competence was denied. His leadership was looked upon as a grave dis- advantage to his unfortunate party ; he was thought unfit to become Prime Minister. But from the moment of his appointment a change came. For he possessed not merely generosity and courage, but a real distinction of mind. He won the devoted loyalty of his followers, and in the matter of the settlement of South Africa showed a statesmanship and breadth of view which has been signally justified. With the publicatiOn of the Life by Mr. Spender this later verdict has been confirmed ; and even "C.-B.'s" critics have come to see that underneath his homely Scotch exterior was a very remarkible mind which bore both adveisity and success with equal strength. And yet when all this has been said it may perhaps be doubted whether this posthumous reputation of his, great and well deserved though it be, ought fairly to be asked to carry so heavy a burden as this volume of early letters to his sister Louisa. For Campbell-Bannerman, though clever and precocious, was never a Mozart ; and to be asked to read through the letters of a boy of fourteen— even though they record a journey to Rome and back—all published in cxtenso in a volume of two hundred and fifty pages with an elaborate itinerary and a copious biographical index, is too great a strain on the attention. The letters are all very well now and then, and many of them, considering the age of the writer, remarkably good ; but if the book had been reduced by selection to one-half or even one-third of its present size, it would have been enough for most appetites, and perhaps even then would have been a book to skim through rather than read. As it is, a very admirable spirit of piety has been indulged too far.
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