Mr. George Mendell has always been a very stalwart Aus-
tralian patriot ; and in his lively autobiography, The Pleasant Career of a Spendthrift (Routledge, 10s. 6d.) he hands out a few home truths to the rest of the world. London especially rouses his denunciations : it is repulsive, dark, airless and chilly ; the climate is odious ; the inhabitants are thin, feeble, and dyspeptic ; their strength has been sapped by the im- ported food they eat, and the effect is seen in their growing incompetence in the liberal arts and in sport. The chief fault of this autobiography is its quite surprising prolixity and repetitiveness ; as if the author had dictated a couple of pages one day, and quite forgotten by the next what he had already said. There is an interesting picture, however, of the land booms and financial scandals of Australia in the 'nineties ; and Mr. Meudell's opinionatedness adds an attraction to the narrative. All roads lead back in the end to the conviction that Australian women are the most beautiful in the world, Aus- tralian men the most vigorous and best educated (if only they would stop the disastrous habit of importing English pro- fessors), Australia itself the land most full of opportunity and natural resources.
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