12 OCTOBER 1929, Page 3

Mr. Begbie's sketches of distinguished persons, which he wrote under

the pseudonym of " A Gentleman with a Duster," were extraordinarily vivid, and we remember that a review of the book in the Spectator, without un- fairly fastening the authorship on Mr. Begbie, pointed out that the style strongly resembled his. It gradually became an open secret that Mr. Begbie had written the book and the authorship has at last been definitely ack- nowledged. Mr. Begbie's novel, Broken Earthenware, had true power and sympathy and unquestionably gave a strong impetus to the work of rescuing women from the streets. He has been described as a strong Evangelical. That is a mistake. He had, it is true, an evangelical fervour, but in at least one of his historical sketches he completely secularized the figure of Christ.