Charles Heade as I Knew Him. By John Coleman. (Treherne
and Co. 15s. net.)—We do not think that Mr. Coleman has rendered good service to his friend by this book of recollections. He gives us here what he took down from Reade's mouth, or recollected as having been said by him ; and, certainly, the auto- biographer does not appear to advantage. One strange thing is Reade's total incapacity ef seeing what an anomaly his academical position was. From eighteen, or thereabouts, down to the end of his life he enjoyed an income from his College,—an income which for many years exceeded 4600, a fair endowment for a Professor- ship. Now many men have done the same, and rendered as little service for it. But he was not of the class that accepts an abuse without thought. He was a great reformer of social abuses ; his novels hare, along with some eccentricities, a high moral tone. But he never speaks of his College except with eon-
tempt. He availed himself of all the abuses which its decadence
had generated. He took the offices of Dean of Arts and Vice- ALLIANCE ASSURANCE CO.5 President when they came to him in rotation, though he did not even attempt to fit himself for the duties. The non-resident Fellow was a great abuse, though with some excuse when it was a prize for academical achievement; but in Reade's ease the abuse appears in its worst form. (The writer of this notice may be allowed to say that he had never realised the facts till they were set forth in this volume, and that his only feeling for Reade was admiration for his literary achievements.) The volume is mainly occupied with the story, a dismal narrative on the whole, of Reade's dramatic ventures. Some successes he had. He cleared, for instance, .R20,000 by Drink, an adaptation of Zola's " L'Asaommoir." But the stage was anything but a blessing to him.
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