EVENING MEMORIES By Sir Herbert Maxwell
Politician, sportsman, naturalist, landowner, and author, Sir Herbert Maxwell, at eighty-seven, looks back, in Evening Memories (MacLehose, 16s.), over a well-spent life. and laments his indolence and waste of opportunities. Such, modesty is rare ; nor are many volumes of ;reminiscences as varied, enter- taining and well written as his. He did not shine at Eton and Christ Church and failed to enter the Army. But he made hiMself an authority on rural subjects—he is a Fellow of the Royal Society—and, as member for Wigtownshire from 1880 to 1906, and a Unionist Whip, he became widely known and popular. He has filled many public offices and has recently done good service for the Scottish National Library, Sri Herbert describes frankly his troubles as a landowner doubly hit by agricultural depression and heavy taxation ; his case is unhappily the rule and not the exception. He tells many good stories. Not the least interesting Is his account of the inter- view in 1907 between the railway company directors and Mr. Lloyd George, then President of the Board of Trade. The directors had decided beforehand that they would not recog- nize the railwaymen's unions. But when Mr. Lloyd George had talked to them, all their resolution melted away, and they agreed to do what they had resolved not to do. At Christ Church he attended the mathematical lectures of C. L. Dodgson (Lewis Carroll) and found his manner " always extremely dry and repellent " ; yet at that time, 18G4-5, the severe don was doubtless correcting the proofs of Alice. The book is well illustrated, mainly with drawings by the author.
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