SOME BOOKS OF THE WEEK.
(Notice in this colunen does n7l necessarily preclude subsequent reoiew.1 We have received a copy of Sir Herbert Warren's Creweian Oration at the Oxford Encaenia on June 25th—the Latin original (Clarendon Press, 3d.) and an English version by the author (Oxford Chronicle, 2d.). Readers who remember how hard they found it to write a passable piece of Latin prose will be interested in the President of Magdalen's mellifluous survey of the war, in compliment to Marshal Joffre and Sir Douglas Haig—" quern Focus ipse =ileum Midis appellavit." We like the witty reference to the Gallic hero," clementem quidem sod non denti bus carentem Tigtida " ; the ingenious rendering " vadttm illud Dorsi Canini " for the Dogger Bank ; and the punning quotation from Plautus—" Tax, tax, est nostro tergo " —in a reference to the burdens of peace. Sir Herbert Warren touched humorously on the great Greek controversy, comparing the defenders of compulsory Greek with the fabled dtudent who, meeting a wild boar on Shotover, choked him with an Aristotle, saying : " It is Greek : eat it."
Spare Your Good. With an Introduction by E. Gordon Duff. (Quaritch. 10s. 6d. net.)—This " lytell treatyse very profitable for every yonge man and yonge woman," in rude verse of the time of Henry VIII., is the familiar story of the prodigal without the happy ending. The refrain " Therefore spare your good that ye have in hand " is decidedly topical, as an encouragement to investors in the Victory Loan. Mr. Gordon Duff, who has done so much to place the study of early English printing on a scientific basis, has edited this reprint as a bibliographical curiosity. Only two copies of the tract survive ; they were printed by Thomas Marshe in Fleet Street, next to St. Dunstan's Church, in or after the reign of Queen Mary. But the tract, as we know from a fragment, had been printed earlier by Wynkyn de Worde, Caxton's pupil and successor. Mr. Duff thinks that it may have been written by Robert Copland.
The Foreign Policy of Woodrow Wilson, 1913-1917. By E. E. Robinson and V. J. West. (Macmillan. 10s. net.)— Two teachers of Leland Stanford Junior University have put together in this interesting volume extracts from President Wilson's official or public statements in regard to foreign affairs, and prefix a long Introduction describing and interpreting his policy. They are warm admirers of the President, and their defence of his watchful waiting upon events up to February, 1917, deserves attention.
The Book of Cheese. By C. Thom and W. W. Fisk. (Macmillan. 8s. net.)—Two American experts describe in this interesting book both the scientific and practical sides of cheesemaking. Many people will be glad to know how, for example, Cheddar, Edam, and Gruyere cheeses are made. It is consoling to learn that some familiar cheeses still have a right to their names. Camembert cheese is being made in America, but Roquefort, made from sheep's milk, is the monopoly of that place in Southern France, largely because the natural caves near Roquefort provide the exact temperature and humidity required for the ripening of the cheese. Gorgonzola cheese, again, is almost all made by the Milanese, though Denmark produces a little ; the cheeses are taken to the cool Alpine valleys where they ripen. Stilton is still an exclusively English product, because " the dairy sections of England are much more humid than those of America and there are less violent changes in temperature "—a remark which is not true of our past spring. Cheese-making, for the finer kinds, is a long and complex business ; the best Parmesan, it seems, has to ripen for three or four years. The authors admit that inherited skill, which cannot be reduced to a formula, still plays a great part in the industry. They devote a chapter to " Cheese in the Household," quoting the authority of the American Department of Agriculture for the statement that a pound of American Cheddar cheese contains as much protein as 1.57 pounds of sirloin steak or 1.81 pounds of fresh ham, and supplies as much energy as 118 pounds of sirloin or 1-29 pounds of fresh ham. The figures will tantalize British readers, who for many months past have found cheese far scarcer than meat. The Harwich Nasal Forces. By E. F. Knight. (Hodder and Stoughton. 3s. 6d. net.)—Mr. Knight gives a spirited account of the work of the light cruisers, destroyers, submarines, and minesweepers at Harwich, whose incessant activity contributed much to our victory, though for obvious reasons it was seldom mentioned in public during the war. The naval war began off Harwich on August 5th, 1914, with the sinking of the German mine-layer Konigin Luise ' by the Amphion,' which was in turn destroyed by a German mine next day. The Harwich flagship Arethusa ' played a great part in the action off Heligoland on August 28th, 1914. But these stirring events were lees important than the long and patient labours of the forces that kept the shipping routes clear, convoyed our merchantmen to Holland, hunted the ' '-boats, and harassed any enemy destroyers which ventured out of Zeebrugge or Ostend. Mr. Knight's account of this part of the Navy's work is of very great interest. Its only fault is that it is too brief.
Murray Marks and his Friends. By G. C. Williamson. (Lane. 12s. 6d. net.)—Dr. Williamson's pleasant and well-illustrated memoir of the well-known art-dealer who died lait year at the age of seventy-eight will be read with interest by many people. Mr. Marks was a friend of Whistler and Rossetti, and, partly at their instigation, began in the " seventies " to import from Holland the blue and white Chinese porcelain which then became the rage. It was Mr. Marks who advised Mr. F. R. Leyland in the decoration of his celebrated house in Princes Gate, and who obtained for Whistler the commission to paint the Peacock Room which led to so much controversy between artist and patron. Dr. Williamson tells some anecdotes of Sir Edward Burne-Jones, Frederick Sandys, Simeon Solomon, and others in Mr. Marks's large circle. Mr. Marks was a generous benefactor to public museums. He was an expert on Renaissance bronzes; but for all that it is strange to find Dr. Williamson defending the authenticity of the notorious wax bust, almost certainly the work of a modern English sculptor, which Mr. Marks.bought in 1909 and sold to the Berlin Museum as the work of Leonardo. Even Homer nods, and in this case the general verdict of connoisseurs has been adverse to Mr. Marks and the Berlin officials.
Modern Morocco. By W. B. Harris and the Hon. W. CozensHardy. (Bank of British West Africa.)—As Mr. W. B. Harris of Tangier is unquestionably the chief living authority on Morocco, we are not surprised to find that this " Report on trade prospects with some geographical and historical notes," compiled for the Bank of British West Africa, is a most instructive and valuable handbook. The author's main object is to interest British merchants and manufacturers in Morocco, to show them that under good French rule the Moors are becoming rich and eager for foreign wares, and to point out the peculiarities of a trade which the Germans alone, before the war, had taken the trouble to study, with much profit to themselves. Apart from the commercial information, the book contains an admirable description of Mofocco, a good historical sketch, and an excellent French map on a scale of about twenty-five miles to the inch.
The Education (Scotland) Act, 1918. Edited by John Strong. (Edinburgh : Oliver and Boyd.)—Scotland last year underwent an educational revolution, similar to that which Mr. Balfour effected for England and Wales in 1918. The nine hundred and forty-seven School Boards, many of which were absurdly small and inefficient, gave place to thirty-eight Education Authorities with larger powers and greater responsibilities. The new bodies are elected by Proportional Representation ; the first election demonstrated the advantages of the system. Mr. Strong's annotated edition of the new Act is well worth reading.
Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles, Founder of Singapore. By J. A. Bethune Cook. (A. H. Stockwell. 6s. net.)—It is a hundred years since Sir Thomas Raffles hoisted the British flag on the desert island of Singapore and founded the settlement which has become one of the greatest ports in the world. Mr. Bethune Cook, an old resident in Malaya, has celebrated the centenary in this readable memoir of Raffles, one of the ablest and most statesmanlike of British Proconsuls. Raffles occupied Java in 1811, and had reformed the whole administration when the Home Government decided in 1818 to give the colony back to the Dutch. Raffles then proposed and carried out the foundation of Singapore as a centre for British trade, much to the annoyance of the Dutch monopolists.
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