Sketches from Memory. By G. A. Storey, A.R.A. With 93
Illustrations by the Author. (Chatto and Windus. 12s. 6d.) —This book is so full of good stories and pleasant talk that it is difficult to know which part to call our readers' attention to first. HoWever, just now the chapters dealing with Paris in 1848 will be read with special interest. Mr. Storey was at school for two years at M. Moraud's in the Avenue Marbceuf, and there he beard and saw a good deal of the politics of the time. He gives some amusing extracts from his diary. This is the entry on "Feb. 16th, 1848. Heard there was going to be a Revolution.
William's pigeons had a young one 22nd. Revolution commenced." Even from his window he managed to see a good many exciting things, such as a crowd singing " Mourir pour la Petrie," following a cart full of dead bodies. Some days later, when, according to the diary, the Revolution was finished, M. Moraud took several of the boys for a walk. They joined the crowd that poured into the Tuileries, and were spectators of the apish tricks of the mob, of which this is a sample :—" While I was standing in one of the grand apartments, looking on in wonder, a little man, with a sword almost as big as himself, stood in front of a magnificent mirror that reached from the floor to the ceiling ; he surveyed it for a moment, and then, as though ha were about to storm a town single-handed, went deliberately up to it, and with one blow of his great cavalry blade shivered it to pieces. As they fell at his feet, he put on a grand air and said
Lit !' as if this was one of the greatest deeds he had ever accom- plished, and the proudest moment of his life." Mr. Storey's account of his friendship with the Leslies, and of the witty and good-natured talk that went on at their house, is as good as any- thing in the book. This is an amusing instance :—" I happened to be lunching one day at Leslie's when Cruiksbank was of the party. Leslie, knowing that his friend had become a staunch teetotaler, said, with a sly look, Mr. Cruikehank, may I have the pleasure of s glass of wine with you ? ' raising his own and passing the decanter. 'No, my dear Leslie,' said Cruikshank, I don't drink wine, you know, but I shall be very happy to take a potato with you!' Whereupon he held one up on the end of his fork, nodded to Leslie, bit a piece off, and wished him a very good health, Leslie laughing and sipping his sherry at the same time." The chapters on Spain are pleasant reading, and the peculiarities of Spanish manners and customs are described with some humour. Mr. Storey has included some specimens of his art in this volume, but the real interest of the book is in the text.
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