30 APRIL 1932, Page 28

Current Literature

WALTER LEAF, 1852-1927 With a Memoir by Charlotte M. Leaf

The late chairman of the Westminster Bank had served as President of the Classical Association and was of high repute both as a firiaricier and as a Homeric scholar. Such an excep- tlhal record lends special interest to the fragment of an autobiography, together with a memoir and appreciations of his banking and scholarship, which his widow has edited under the title of Walter Leaf, 1852-1927 (Murray, 10s. 8d.). His account of his childhood, his life at Harrow under Montagu Butler, and his years at Trinity, Cambridge, where he was bracketed Senior Classic with F. H. Rawlins in 1874, is of great interest; and it isto be regretted that the autobiography breaks off in 1876, when out of filial devotion he had taken his invalid father's place in a well-known City dry goods firm. Before going up to Trinity he Went with Dean Farrar to Palestine, and he had learned from John Farmer to love music. 'He describes the " Apostles " of whom he was one— notably F. W. Maitland, Henry Butcher and Arthur Verrall- arld he recalls his veneration _fol. Henry Sidgwiek and Henry Jackson. The Cambridge of sixty years since lives again in his emanated pages. Mrs. Leaf, a daughter of John Addington Symonds, was married in 1894, and her account of her hus- band's later life is attractive. She emphasizes his good temper, his versatility and his- practical mind—qualities that enabled him-to do an immense amount of good work and yet

to enjoy life to the full.