POLITICAL PORTRAITS (Second series). By Charles Whibley. (Macmillan. 7s. 6d.)
At a time when either the Right or the expediency of majority rule is so generally recognized, together with the truth of the sentiment that there is usually , right on both sides," it is something of a surprise to redd a book such as Mr. Charles Whibley's Political Portraits. This charmingly- written and superficially scholarly volume expresses views which make those of M. Leon Daudet appear by comparison democratic, and those of General Ludendorff pacific. We are told that the greatest political party England has ever seen loved only her enemies. Were we to form our estimate of the Whigs from Political Portraits we would imagine them to have been a small middle-class gang, intent on England's
ruin, who somehow always seemed to have had sufficiently long purses to bribe their more ignorant fellow-countrymen to betray her. Apart from this insane delusion the book is not without considerable merit. Mr. Whibley has a striking understanding of that elusive quality, genius. It is as great a pleasure to read his sure and gallant appreciations of great men and great actions as it is tedious to hear his arbitrary condemnations of everything with which he disagrees. The airy accomplishment, the trenchant and profound observa- tions contained in it, raise the study of Edward Gibbon Wake- field to the front rank among modern essays.
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