3 OCTOBER 1908, Page 37

The King's General in the West : the Life of

Sir Richard Granville. By the Rev. Roger Granville. (John Lane. 10.s. 6d. net.)—Sir Richard Granville was the unworthy descendant of the famous "Sir Richard of the 'Revenge.'" He served in Ireland from February, 1642, up to the breaking out of the Civil War in England. His English service he began by egregiously deceiving the Parliament. He boldly went to London, got his arrears of pay and a handsome outfit, and changed over to the King with the regiment of horse to which he had been appointed. After this he did very little. His siege of Plymouth was a distinct failure; and he certainly brought a fresh element of discord into the Royalist counsels in the West. He was greedy of money, and in his private life nothing less than infamous. His biographer does not spare him, though he advances now and then a mitigating- plea. The favour which he seems to have enjoyed with the King does not say much for Charles's ability to read character. What- ever faults the Parliamentary leaders may have had, there was no one among them who could be matched with Sir Richard Granville and Lord Goring.