Current Literature
JOVIAL KING
By F. M. Kircheisen This book, Jovial King (Elkin Mathews and Marrot, 12s. 6d.) in which the sixteen photographs are not the least interesting part, deals with Jerome Bonaparte, the youngest of the family, and the spoilt darling of Napoleon. His youth was self-willed and he was poorly educated, but he learnt to spend money and to enjoy himself. His first marriage, to an American, was not acknowledged by the Emperor, who, after Jerome had seen a little naval service, married him to Katherine, Princess of Wfirtemberg, and then raised him to the throne of Westphalia, a newly created country, which eventually included Hanover. Jerome was not a born ruler, and his brother did little for him but drain his kingdom of revenue. Both, of course, collapsed in the debdcle of 1814. Jcrome's life is clearly brought out by Mr..Kircheisen, without any attempt at profundity or shrewd analysis, to which, perhaps, his subject did not lend himself. We c3uld have wished for a clearer picture of the government of Westphalia, but the canvas is a large one, which Mr. Kircheisen does not succeed in covering very well. A readable, but not a striking biography.
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