Tales and Sketches. By Lord Beaconsfield. (William Paterson.) —Mr. Logie
Robertson, who edits this volume, and prefaces it with a short memoir, does not seem quite at his ease when speaking of Lord 13eaconsfield. There is certainly a touch of conventionality in such general assertions as that " the effect of his writings is favourable to heroism, purity of morals, and nobility of sentiment." Then Mr. Robertson is in error when he says : "In humour he (Lord Beaconsfield) was notably .deficient." Lord Beaconsfield's humour was not English, perhaps, but of its kind it was genuine and remarkable, he was full of, not deficient in, humour. We confess, however, that some of the stories which appear in this volume—even " Popanilla " and "The Infernal Marriage "—are devoid of the elementary literary quality of human interest. Some of the shorter and less-known tales, such as "The Consul's Daughter "— in which an aristocratic lover successfully conceals his identity —are, however, decidedly better, although even in it there are innumerable sentences of G. P. R. Jamosish sentiment, liko : "Her lively fancy and agreeable conversation prevented solitude from degenerating into loneliness ; she diffused over their happy home that indefinable charm, that spell of unceasing yet soothing ex- citement, with which the constant presence of an amiable, a lovely, and accomplished woman can alone imbue existence." Yet this book is well worth reading—especially by those Who have no time to read all Disraeli's works—as illustrating the Asiatic -eharacteristica of his genius.
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