Rocking Horse Journey. By C. E. Vulliamy. (Michael Joseph. 12s.
6d.) MR. C. E. VULLIAMY has written a book of essays which have to be read ; they cannot be skipped. Whether he is dealing with eccentrics such as the father of Maria Edgeworth, recalling the douceur de vivre which surrounded his childhood (and writ- ing it off with a hint of the most beautifully controlled melancholy), -describing the im- pact on the cosy world of 1859 of the " dreadful announcement that even English- men were descended from—well, to put it as gently as possible, a lower type of animal somewhat resembling the gorilla," or, in fact, carrying us where he will—the style is the same : urbane, competent, gentle. Mr. Vulliamy is so much a master of style that he can say just what he wants to say ; and he can arouse, one cannot help surmising, just those emotions in his readers he wishes them to feel. There is an excellent reason for this ; the carpentry is there, but it is never appar- ent. And Mr. Vulliamy loves writing for its own sake. He uses the most agreeable quotations—particularly when describing " The Georgian Female "—and his book glows with humour. Though the tone of all the essays could, indeed, be mordacious, it never really is. It is something quite differ- ent. It is fatherly and kind. D. S.
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