LONDON: DECEMBER 4th, 1909.

REGINALD BOSWORTH SMITH.* BoswonTu Sanwa was a "son of the parsonage," born at the rectory of Stafford, a Dorsetshire village two miles east of Dorchester. This "wonderful old...

AUSTRALIA has been called the laboratory of social experi- ment, and this book is a chronicle of some of the results. Mr. St. Ledger is a practical politician rather than a...

Miss Li FEIIVER'S last book, Us and Our Donkey, is written in her well-known style. This mixture of grave and gay makes very pleasant reading, and is also true to life. The...

THE desire so strongly expressed by Thackeray himself that no biography of him should be written cannot, we suppose, ho regarded as a perpetual injunction. It will be forty-six...

Hanotaux's four volumes has a hero, or, to speak more exactly, a leading figure. It is Gambetta who dominates this fourth volume : a genius, statesman, and patriot, but with...

Tana book is full of ideas, and any one who cares for the art of building will find it interesting from beginning to end. Each lecture is by an expert who deals with his own...

IRISH FAIRIES.t Ma. G aivEs gives us in his preface a list of the Irish fairy tribes. There were formidable creatures among them, the Piast, for instance, now happily confined...

certainly gives as much for its modest price as any one can expect. Mr. F. W. Walker, who undoubtedly knows what he is talking about, opens the volume with an account of the...

As You Like It (10s. 6d. net). The text, we are told, has been taken from the Oxford edition. The illustrations, forty in number, are by Mr. Hugh Thomson. We have said enough to...

3s. 6d.)—This book belongs, it may be said, to a graver kind of literature than do most of those which are noticed in these columns. To complete the title, we add " and other...

Parrish, has seconded the efforts of the two collaborators with some quite admirable pictures. We do not remember to have seen a picture more instinct with the spirit of the...

WE suppose there will be, as there has been, a steady succession of books, technical and popular, on the subject of light. The same thing is said over and over again, and some...

Frowde and Hodder and Stoughton. 5s.)—Hunting for gold in the Arctic Circle, as depicted by Mr. Curtis, is a pursuit that does not lack for incident. And when the three...

5s.)—We are safe in saying that Henry Gothard is the most unconventional head-master ever delineated in schoolboy fiction. We have known men who did not answer to the ordinary...

not a very artistic piece of work. A self-made man might be as overbearing as Mr. Nalder, but he would hardly be simple enough fo take the swindling Guy Pember at his own...

Son. 6s.)—Mr. Macdonald loses no time in introducing his readers into an atmosphere of horror and mystery. A remark- able-looking traveller who steps with a masterful air into...

6d.)—This " Story of the Days of Henry IV." has to do with the troubles in the North which ended in the death of Archbishop Scrope. The King, as might be expected, does not...

(W. and R Chambers. 3s. 6d.)—Mr. Gleig has planned his new book on time-honoured lines. Pirates have done duty over and over again as a theme for boys' stories. But they never...

R. Chambers. Ss. 6d.)—This " Story of the French Revolution" is a well-executed piece of work. Nowhere, not even in Paris itself, did the great movement assume a more varied...

and Stoughton. 2s. 6d.)—Mr. Strang has a laudable desire for the bettering of the South American Republics. Perhaps the first step may be the making English people interested...

and Son. 5s.)—Mr. Jeans follows up with this volume an earlier book of naval adventure, " Mr. Midshipman Glover, R.N." Richard Ford, son of a Devonshire parson, passes out of...

is. 6d.) is a collection of stories retold from Malory and Tennyson. We could have done without Vivien and Merlin. —Various books about animals, all good in their way, have to...

and Co. 5s.)—The young mountaineer whose adventures are told in this story is a Tyrolese. First we see him as a farm boy in his native place, and accompany him on an exciting...

and Stoughton. 6s.)—Mr. Strang takes up the old Crusoe theme, and makes a capital story out of it. There is nothing specially new about it. The mutiny, the landing of the hero...

Gardner, Darton, and Co. 2s. 6d.)—Charlie Page's father is about to buy some trawlers, and the boy conceives the brilliant idea of going aboard one and finding out at first...

R. Chambers. 5s.)—The "Rookies," it must be understood, are not the Canadian range which we commonly understand by the name. The story opens with the arrival of a caravan in...

Partridge and Co. 2s.)—Some mysterious Chinamen suddenly appear in a Scottish home and spread consternation in the family by informing them that the head is being held to...

and Stoughton. 3s. 6d.)—Nathalie, whom some of our readers will probably remember, is the wife of Dr. McAlister Holden. Harry Arterburn, her brother, who misses her com-...

Son. 2s. 6d.)—This story takes us back something more than a century to days when England was looking out for French invaders. The heroes are a pair of twins, a certain Sir...

Co. 3s. 6d.)—This might be called a story of the educational ladder, only that we do not get into contact with educational interests. Where the ladder comes in is that it...

Chambers 2s. 6d.)—We need not criticise the romance of this story. The heirs to peerages are not often kidnapped, but they may be,— there is, or used to be, a business of...

and Co. 5s.)—Two rival explorers, English and American, shaking friendly hands at the Pole, which they have both contrived to reach, is a very pretty idea. Just now the words...

(S. W. Partridge and Co. 2s. 6d.)—The organised mischief which can dwell in a class of boys devoid of all discipline is described with undeniable accuracy and considerable...

Hodder and Stoughton. 63.)—The "Empire" is the dominion which Napoleon sought to establish in the East, where his dreams took in India as well as Egypt. Tom Nunn is a young...

and R. Chambers. 3s. 6d.)—Faith King, daughter of a clergyman, loses her =ether, and having no one to look after her is sent away by her father to be educated with her...

68.) —There is nothing special about this story till we get through more than the first half. The jealousies and likings of school- girls, the social distinctions of a little...

Miss Manners" is a domestic deity (more commonly known, we think, as " Mr. Manners") often invoked by the guardians of childhood for the benefit of their charges. She or he is...

and Stoughton. 3s. 6d.)—Miss Haverfield has given us in her new book a variation on the theme of step- relationships. For it is with no prejudice against them that Audrey...

2s. 6d.)—Here we have a mixture of fairy things and common things. On the whole, we prefer the old way, which brought one into fairyland without leaving any doubt about the...

and Co. 3s.)—There is something of the Industrious and the Idle Apprentice in this story, only the Industrious helps the Idle to better things. It is a quite readable tale,...

2s. 6d.)—The theme is sufficiently familiar,—the spoilt child who is sent to school, astonishes her teachers and her fellows by her audacity, and gets into all kinds of...

and Co. 3s. 6d.)—The "little merman," having purchased for himself a human body from a dwarf of the mountains at the price of his fishy tail, which, indeed, he could hardly...

and Co. 2s. 6d.)—This is a domestic tale with a strongly defined religious purpose. Gwynneth, the heroine, has to leave the peaceful home where she has lived for years, and...

is, we imagine, even more difficult. Miss Baldwin has sought to produce a novel situation by representing a girl who has been brought up by an old grandfather, who thoroughly...

6d.) —It sometimes strikes us—quite possibly we have already expressed the thought in print—that these stories of boys' life are not im- proved, are even a little spoilt,...

is a tale of the realm of magic, ingeniously contrived, with characteristic pictures.

(Blackie and Son. 2s. 6d.)—A pretty fancy is well worked out. A little maid who is discontented with her lot is enabled by a magic cloak to learn what other lives are like....

Gunn. (Hodder and Stoughton. 3s. 6d.)—We must find space for a notice of this " revised edition," so charming is the story, so striking the illustrations. The little black...

the Decoration." (Hodder and Stoughton. 5s.)—This is a charming story of modern Japan. It begins with the Festival of Dolls in the home of Yuki Chan, a delightful little girl....

(W. Heinemann. Os. net.)—This little book covers a very great field, and is of necessity brief in statement and dogmatic in judgment. This is inevitable in a handbook which...

Co. 7s. 6d. net.)—This is an excellent book, well written, being neither too technical nor too popular. By its aid we can admire the energy of those marvellous Norman builders...

(T. Nelson and Sons. 6s. net.)—This is a handsome volume, with spacious margins, plentiful illustrations, and a general " get-up " befitting its subject,—the heroism of all...

for the blind continues to be provided by the editors of the Braille Weekly Sununary, Eltham, Kent. We notice that a squirrel adorns one of their new embossed Christmas cards....

separate paper-bound numbers of " The International Art Series " (T. Fisher 17nwin, 5s. net each). The quarto size of the work enables the reproductions to be on a...

Translated by Bettina, Kalinweiler. (John Murray. 7s. 6d. net.)— The destroying hand of time, which falls heavily on fragile pottery, has spared twenty-eight vases and...

E. Marsden.: (J. M. Dent and' Sons. 6s. net.)—To review this work adequately would require a dissertation on the psychology of child- hood, and a summary of the most modern...

ART-BOOKS. Greek Architecture. By Allan Marquand. (Macmillan and Co. 10s. net.)—From such a book as this many will learn with surprise how much is known about the details of...

3s. 6d.)—The scene is unfamiliar, and, pictured as it is with no little skill, is interesting in no common degree. Then there is a secret of making some costly perfume out of...

Darton, and Co. 1s. net.)—Here we have four stories from the Arthurian cycle, as " Sir Gawain and the Knight" and others from elsewhere.—The same publishers also send us...

3s. 6d. net.)—This book is much less detailed and technical than the preceding one. After a general survey, we are given a series of photographs of famous Greek ruins, with a...

English Poetry. By Arthur Symons. (A. Constable and Co. 10s. 6d. net.)--We can imagine no severer test of a critic's capacity than to set him to write a history of literature....

and Co. 7s. 6d. net.)—Miss Cameron states the case, and states it fully and intelligently, with a clear appreciation of the difficulties which encompass it. She does not...

Parsimony in Nutrition. By Sir James Crichton-Browne. (Funk and Wagnalls Company. 3a.)—Many people are telling us that we eat too much meat, proteids, to use the scientific...

Dutch Painters of the Seventeenth Century. By C. H. de Groot. (Mac- millan and Co. 26s. net.)—This is the second volume of a cata- logue based on the work of John Smith, and...

6d. net.)—The beginner in print-collecting will find here a great deal that will be serviceable to him, both as to technical matters and also in regard to questions of taste....

The Book of the Goat. By H. S. Holmes Pegler. (Upoott 6s.)—There are a quarter of a million goats in Ireland, we learn from the Dublin Department of Agriculture, but no man...

the British Museum. By 0. M. Dalton, Assistant Keeper of the Department. Printed by Order of the Trustees. (Longman and Co., and others. 42 2s. net.)—It is needless to say...

Highways and Byways in Middlesex. By Walter Jerrold. (Macmillan and Co. 6s.)—Perhaps the "highways" occupy more space in proportion to their deserts than the "byways."...

tions by G. Denholm Armour. (T. S. Small, Jedburgh. 6s. net.)- There is so little well-written hunting literature in these days that one may recommend a small volume which...

Sons. 2s. 6d. net.)-This collection of sermons by ministers of several denominations is a curious mixture. Mr. Mathews writes in what might be called a " breezy," or, in other...

Walter Crane. (T. Fisher Unwin. 6s.)-At first sight this book seems to be meant for children, but on closer acquaintance we find that the allegories of which it is composed are...

County Printing Works, Drury Lane, W.C. ; and Published by JOVE BAKER for the SpaeraToa" (Limited) at their Office, No.1 Wellington Street, in the Precinct of the Savoy, Strand,...

from his cold, put the case for the Lords with very great ability. As is well known, he is in a very real sense " a House of Commons man," but it was clear that he felt no...

to happen, and who somehow believe that we are on the eve of great revolutionary disturbances, should note what has happened in regard to the so-called financial chaos which we...

profess to say that the action of the Lords violates democratic principles or the rights of the people. A pedant might perhaps say that the phrase " a usurpation of the rights...

and ingenious travesty, of the Lords' position. They do not claim for a moment the right to refer normal Finance Bills to the people, or to make their very exceptional action...

SUPPLIIITENT.

Mr. Asquith's speech in defence of his Motion. Oratorically it was an exceedingly fine effort, and though it lacked that passion of conviction which Mr. Gladstone contrived to...

of either excitement or indignation in the country. After all, and if one reflects on the matter calmly, it would be somewhat strange if there were. The Peers, like the Commons,...

T HE crisis, though that is to give rather an exaggerated and excitable name to events which the country has .taken with complete imperturbability, may be said to have begun...

case.

FOR THB ENDING SATURDAY, DECEMBER 4, 1909. [ REGISTERED AS A.} PRICE SD. NEWSPAPER. Br POST...6ID POSTAGE ABROAD SD,

Bill was almost unanimously opposed by men of business. He' believed that " by the super-tax a new kind of Holy Inquisition was'being set up which would pry into every one's...

special correspondent who is inquiring at Brussels' into the Congo reform scheme.' "The conversations I have had during the last few days," he says, "with Belgians who have...

on Monday by Lord Morley. He began by arguing that the amend- ment involved a number of revolutionary changes in the Consti- tution. It would establish for the first time a deal...

cannot help thinking that he exaggerates the demora- lising effect of a properly guarded and limited Referendum; that he underestimates the evils of the land clauses of the...

Wales, announced -that the Government would immediately intervene if necessary to end the coal strike, which for some time has been almost paralysing the life of the Colony....

Asquith's reticence in regard to what the Govern- ment intend to - do about the House of Lords if they win at the elections. If they merely intend, as appears to be the case, to...

his pohcy in a letter which we print elsewhere, and has criticised M. Renkin's scheme fully and with his usual ability in his little book, "The Future of the Congo " (Smith,...

delivered his Speech from the Throne. The omission from the Speech of all reference to the German Navy is particularly curious. There was probably a precise reason for it, as...

Peters- burg between H. Guchkoff, the leader of the Octobrist Party, and Count Uvaroff, a Deputy who was formerly a member of the party. Count Uvaroff was slightly wounded. The...

of opinion between two expert valuers, and in the end five:sixths of the Thorney tenants bought their holdings at a fixed price, leaving two-thirds of the purchase-money on...

Bed- ford's Thorney Estate, given in the Lords on November 24th, was subjected to a very damaging analysis in Monday's Times by Mr. R. E. Prothero, the agent of the Bedford...

drew a tragic picture of the position of members of the Liberal Party in the House of Lords. Now that the Liberals were in power, the Opposition " still took complete charge of...

Oct. 21st.. . Consols (2k) were on Friday 83—Friday week 821.

thinking that, "since he was entrusted with a vote on an occasion so important, he could not conscientiously refuse to give it." He delighted the Opposition by his references to...

provide cubicles in barracks. We are sincerely glad to hear it. No doubt this decision is due to the popularity of the experimental barracks at Woking. About ten years ago we...

the annual dinner of the Liverpool Shipbrokers' Benevolent Sir John Bigham, the President of the Admiralty Division, at the annual dinner of the Liverpool Shipbrokers'...

as last week. But it has been the cause of a delightful ban mot. According to the Liberig, after witnessing Mine. Jeanne Granier's performance at Neudeck, the Kaiser assured her...

of the debate, Lord Curzon's was especially remarkable. He asserted that opponents of the Bridget had been unjustly acoused of indifference to questions of social reform. But a...

THE REFERENCE OF THE BUDGET TO THE ELECTORS. THE House of Lords have referred the Budget to the JL country. They have done so because they hold that the Budget contains not...

E NDER the heading " The People's Budget " Mr. Lloyd George has published his Budget speeches in book form (Hodder and Stoughton, Is. net). For this work he has written a...

I N a book called " England and the English," noticed in our columns on May 22nd last, an American writer, Mr. Price Collier, who probably cannot be accused of any political...

" B LACKWOOD'S Magazine " for December contains an article which all thoughtful Liberals ought certainly to read. They may perhaps be repelled. by the title, ".The Intellectual...

opposition to proportional representation is no longer directed against the doctrine that a legis- lative body should be as nearly as possible a microcosm of the electorate...

T HE Rev. E. J. Hardy in his new book," How to be Happy though Civil " (T. Fisher Unwin, 5s. net), devotes a whole chapter to " Courteous Censure." Without a doubt the art of...

T HE letter from the Dramatic Committee of the Society of Authors published in the papers of Monday is one more proof that the middle way of common-sense—the give-and- take of...

T HE Eton playing-fields change very slowly, perhaps, for those who live near them and see most of them. A. chestnut-tree falls one year, an elm the next ; another spring, and a...

THE DUTY OF UNIONIST FREE-TRADERS. [TO THE EDITOR. 07 7011 "SPECTATOR.. "] Sin, —Now that the House of Lords have, unadvisedly as I think, upset the balance of our...

[To THE EDITOR OP THE " SPECTATOR "] SIR, —I have been much interested in your recent articles on the duty of Unionist Free-traders. From my knowledge of the workiiig men of...

[To THE EDITOR OP THE " SPECTATOR1 Sra,—I venture the following comments upon your interesting article on the Congo question in last week's Spectator. First, you say the...

[To THE EDITOR OP THE " SpEcueroit."] Suz,—In the Lords' debate the Lord Chancellor is reported as follows :— "What is there in this Bill that in the least interferes with...

[To THE Enrroa OF THE usrmereTon."] Sin,—As an " ordinary business man," I can assure Bishop Gore that, having tried it, I would much rather take a public- school and...

[To THE ED/TOR OP THE 46 SPBCTATOB."1 SIR, — While heartily endorsing your praise in last week's issue of the good work accomplished in the past eighteen years by the National...

[To THE EDITOR OP THE 64 SPECTATOR."J SIR, — Some weeks since you allowed me to advocate the cause of Boy Scouts in your columns. May I draw your attention to an offshoot of...

SIR,—As a public librarian, and therefore to a certain extent responsible for much of the literature provided for a large section of the public, juvenile as well as adult, I...

[To TER EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR. " ] SIR, — I hear that the crowd outside the House of Lords on Tuesday night amused themselves by singing " Who Killed Cock Robin P " I...

[To THE EDITOR Or THE " SPECTATOR. "] SIR,—I have just read your appreciative review in last week's issue of the Memoir of Sir Wilfrid Lawson, and am reminded of a bon mot of...

[TO THE EDITOR 01 THE "SPECTATOR.'] SIR, — I shall be glad if you can find space in your columns for the enclosed letter, which has been addressed to the principal London...

have a great deal of sympathy with the views expressed by Mr. Herbert Bull in his letter which appeared last week in your columns, although I think that there is a danger of...

hoped that your articles and Mr. Bull's letter will inaugurate an extensive movement for the sup- pression of vicious literature. The Head-Masters' Conference and the...

SIR,—Every right-minded reader of the Spectator must have read with satisfaction your severe censure of the novel called " Ann Veronica" in the issue of November 20th ; but...

SIR,—Your correspondent the Rev. Herbert Bull suggests the punishment of the "author, publisher, or distributor" of moral poison. Very well. But who are the distributors ?...

incontinence is not even new. Mly I recall a passage in The Progress of Man, pub- lished over a hundred years ago in - Canning's Anti- " Hail ! beauteous Lands that crown the...

Sin,—We write to express our great satisfaction at the line you are taking with regard to " Poisonous Literature" and our hearty sympathy with the proposed scheme.—We are,...

[To TER EDITOR 07 THE " SPECTATOR." . 1 Sin,—My attention has been called to your strenuous review of my last book, "Ann Veronica," under the heading "A Poisonous Book." I...

[To TIM EDITOR 01 TUX ..srscrAros.'l beg leave to report that I have already received, with the kindest of letters, money and promises to the extent of £315 1's. from forty-one...

SHADOWS. AT Shadow-time around my bed I hear the lions growl, Across the ceiling overhead There flies a big black owl, And, last of all, the bogyman Comes creeping...

ARISTOPHANES AT CAMBRIDGE. THERE could be no doubt at Cambridge last week as to the reality of the pleasure which was felt by those who watched the performances of The Wasps of...

or initials, or with a pseudonym, or are marked "Communicated," the Editor must not necessarily be held to be in agreement with the views therein expressed or with the mode of...

WE have received the following contributions in answer to the appeal of the Anti-Slavery and Aborigines' Protection Society, on behalf of the deputation to the United States...

LORD MORLEY OF BLACKBURN'S INDIAN SPEECHES.* MIRING the past two years the British democracy has been face to face for the first time with the real difficulties of governing...

ONE may be very little of a disciple and yet admire the work of that strange genius who died in Weimar so late as 1900, and is already a kind of universal classic. We sympathise...

Warrnea one agrees or disagrees with Sir Oliver Lodge's conclusions, any impai tially minded man must, in our opinion, admit that the attempt to investigate the question of the...

Mn. IltoNRotes Sicily is put together in a very businesslike manner. Any one who reads it through and contrives to • Questionin g s on Criticism and Beauty. Br the Right Hon....

MR. BALFOUR'S Romanes Lecture has two advantages over most other studies in aesthetics. It contains no technicalities to bewilder an uninitiated reader, and no assumptions...

SIR FRANCIS CHANNING in his paper on "Mr. Gladstone and the Crisis of 1909 " in the Nineteenth Century is chiefly concerned to prove that "the general principles of the...

IT NEVER CAN HAPPEN AGAIN.* MR. WILLIAM DE MORGAN, like Mr. Joseph Conrad, reminds one of the saying of a scientific lecturer (who knew no Greek, but vaguely understood the...

(Longman and Co. 6s.)—This novel is not very artistically constructed. There are parts of it which might be retrenched without loss, and even with advantage. The smuggling of...

in which a mother and daughter are in love with the same mau is never very attractive, and it needs consummate tact in the handling. Miss Robins takes this for the theme of her...

6s.)—The travellers "went down from Jerusalem," not to Jericho, as one might expect—whatever the direction, it is always a going down—but to Hebron, and thence to El...

and E. C. Jack. 6s. net.)—It has been said, and there is a certain force in the contention, that friendship is a lost possession of man- kind. It has been driven out by the...

and Hall. 6s.)—This clever story of a wife who is supposed to be an idealist makes rather dreary reading, and the author is content to leave her heroine in a hopeless...

2s. 6d. net.)—We may allow that Mr. Granger has done useful work by accumulating and arranging the observations made during a considerable period of time. The 'wise man said:...

[Undor this heading we notice such Books of the week as have not been reserved for review in other 'arms.] Egypt of Yesterday and To-day. By Percy Withers. (Grant Richards. 6s....

(Andrew Melrose. 3s. 6d. net.)—Mr. Harrowes is a minister of the Scottish Free Church. This fact will be found to affect in some particulars the application of his counsels....

He accepts the theory of various documents, J, E', E, Sc.,: which have been edited and combined. He doubts whether this or that detail is historical. In fact, ho assumes the...