Lord Beatty is not yet sixty ; when still a
comparatively young man he had reached the highest post in the greatest striking force of the greatest war in history. He owes nothing to his birth, of an honourable but in no way especially famous line of Irish landowners ; nor yet to academic qualifications, for in his examination as a sub-lieutenant at Greenwich he almost failed. He has never been a specialist, a politician or a courtier ; yet at the beginning of this century, when he was not yet thirty, he became a captain, having passed over the heads of 895 lieutenants and 219 commanders. Luck was with him in the fact that he was able to distinguish himself both in a gunboat up the Nile and later in China ; but it was his dash, initiative and quick mind which caused him to be a marked man amongst his fellows. In Earl Beatty (Jarrolds, 12s. 6d.), Captain Geoffre,y
Rawson gives us the first published account of this great Admiral. He meets the criticisms which have been made of Lord Beatty's impetuosity and the accusations of faulty tactics with a moderation more convincing than any eloquence. Altogether this is a very fair-minded and interesting book.
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