PARLIAMENTARY MEMORIES,
Tunas is probably no one alive more familiar with Parlia- mental"' life in its every aspect than Mr. Lucy (" Toby, M.P.") He has been for thirty-five years "its close and constant observer." He has seen many changes, watched' many men and many Governments rise and fall and what he has seen and heard in these years he can tell with ease, point, and picturesqueness. A. master of the written word and descriptive phrase, he reconstructs. a scene or revives a personality with vividness and truth, and this enviable power, together with a remarkable' familiarity with his surroundings, permits him to deal pie-, turesquely with whatsoever he touches, whether it be the ventia .lation of the House or its architectural beauties, and enables him to breathe the spirit of attractive life into the dry boneri of Parliamentary procedure. Part I. of the volume deals with Men, Part IL with Manners. We prefer Part I. There Mr. Lucy gives a good series of pen-portraits of the Prime Ministers he has known ; and also of Mr. Chamberlain, Lord Morley, Sir Stafford Northcote, Lord Hugh Cecil and his elder brother, Lord Courtney, and Lord Randolph Churchill. Of the living and of the dead he writes without fear or favour, yet invariably with good temper. Therein lie his forte and hie success. His portraits are not all equally convincing. That of Lord Morley we think inadequate, though that of Disraeli is excellent. The most careful of writers cannot avoid slips, but it is a bad slip to say, for example, that when Mr. Morlej took his seat for Newcastle (p. 226) Mr. Chamberlain and Sir Charles Dilke sat together. below the gangway. They were, in feet, members of the Government, Mr. Chamberlain' being President of the Board of Trade and Sir Charles Dilke Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs. Mr. Lucy sides with those who hold that the legend that the primrose (whence the Primrose League) was the favourite flower of Disraeli was founded on a misunderstanding. On the- wreath of primroses • Memories e Night Portiannents. By FL W. Lucy. London W. Heineman& [8s. 6d. net.] sent by the Queen for Disraeli's coffin there was the inscrip- tion, "His favourite flower," signed by the autograph initials of the Queen. "The truth is," adds Mr. Lucy, " that when the Queen wrote the inscription she had in her mind the Prince Consort, and desired to offer on the bier of her friend, the dead statesman, the cherished floral gift connected with her tinforgotten husband." The story of Disraeli's triumph in winning, despite the strong prejudice against his race, the friendship of the Queen is given thus (p. 66) :—" Disraeli disclosed the secret of his triumph. He had, he said, a simple rule when talking with the Queen. 'I never deny: I never contradict : I sometimes forget.' He indicated another phase when he said : Gladstone treats the Queen like a public department; I treat her like a woman.' " Should it not be : "Gladstone treats the Queen like a public 9rweting " ? That version has always seemed to the present writer the truer and the better one. We regret that we cannot deal at greater length with the volume. Suffice it to say that it is full of interesting anecdotes, information, and humour (there is a chapter on " Bulls " and on Irish come- dians). It is appropriately dedicated to the Lord Chancellor.
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