The Land of my Fathers. By T. Marchant Williams. (Long-
mans, Green, and Co.)—This is a terribly earnest yet somewhat
grotesque attempt by a very patriotic Welshman to strike a blow at sectarianism, bard drinking, payment by results, and red-tape inspection of schools, as they exist, or existed, in the Principality.
It is rather a pity that Mr. Williams should have selected fiction as his medium for expressing his views, for although he can sketch such a character as the Rev. Mr. Drizzle, the inspector who bullies weak teachers and thinks Matthew Arnold a fool, he does not seem to be capable of a sustained effort in the way of a novel. Otherwise, he would hardly have contrived to give the air of farce to the sensational element of the story—the rivalry for the hand of Olwen, the heroine, between Hubert Broadmead and the drunken Captan Capper—by making the Captain entice Hubert to drink, by way of preparing for an attempt to murder
him. The strong family resemblance between Welsh names is no doubt a sore trial. But Mr. Williams unintentionally—for he
writes invariably in a reverently religious tone—offends against taste by telling us that at the funeral of poor Enid Vaughan, "the Rev. David Thomas Roberts read a chapter from the Scriptures, the Rev. Robert David Thomas engaged in prayer, and the Rev. Thomas David Roberts gave out the hymn." There is a great deal of truth in this disguised pamphlet, which Welshmen and others as well should take to heart, and some of it is stated forcibly, and even eloquently.
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