20 JULY 1901, Page 21

A Diary of the Siege of the Legations in, Pekin.

By Nigel Oliphant. (Longmans and Co. Gs. net.)—Mr. Andrew Lang in a brief preface introduces the author of this volume. Mr. Oliphant, finding that examinations were not to his mind, enlisted in the Scots Greys, from which regiment he was trans- ferred to the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, who were serving in India. Seeing no chance of fighting, he accepted a post in the Chinese Postal Service. This brought him to Pekin and gave him plenty