a compilation from previous works on the same subject, especially
from the two which he terms " authoritative "—Dr. Andrew Wilson's " Ever-Victorious Army," and Dr. Birkbeck Hill's " Colonel Gordon in Central Africa." As for'the more recent volume of Mr. Hake, he says :—" I have acknowledged the quotations made from Mr. Egmont Hake's volume, which are taken only from the few passages of it which are not, as is my own work mainly, a digest of the two original works named above." By a large number of readers, Mr. Forbes's corn- pact little book will be preferred to any of its predecessors. It is a clear, compact narrative, with no padding in the shape of long letters, and no digressions in the form of panegyrics on Gordon, or reflections on those with whom or for whom he has had to work. With the purely spiritual side of General Gordon's nature, Mr. Forbes can hardly be supposed to be in perfect sympathy, the more especially as he is not personally acquainted with the man. It is unnecessary to say, however, that few writers are more fitted than Mr. Forbes to do justice to General Gordon as a man of action. The story of the toils
and triumphs, of the battles and journeys, in China and the Soudan is told in a very spirited fashion indeed. Mr. Forbes gives his writing a little flavouring of the slang indulged in by the sabreur and the "special." But that is, on the whole, enjoyable. Mr. Forbes occasionally shows, too, that he is a partisan. Thus he writes :—" In May, 1881, the Marquis of Ripon was sailing for India to succeed Lord Lytton in the Viceregal rule. There was the general realisa- tion that India needed a strong moral tonic after a regime so enervating and deteriorating." This may be a quite correct descrip- tion of Lord Lytton's reign in India ; in our opinion it is. But in a work which is essentially a narrative, and in no sense controver-
sial, does it not appear to be "matter in the wrong place"? Viewed as a whole, however, Mr. Forbes's biography of "Chinese " Gordon is very heartily to be commended.
Previous page
