In the series of "Westminster Biographies" (Kegan Paul, Trench, and
Co., 3s. 6d.) we have a most admirable little book, Daniel Defoe, by Wilfred Whitten. Mr. Whitten recognises the fact that Defoe was an enigmatic person, and does not attempt the task, which more than one biographer has failed in accomplish- ing, of setting out a consistent theory of his action. He does what is better, for he gives us an idea of a real man, who did, it is true, contradict himself pretty often, but was in the main a man who desired to do the right thing. He conceals nothing, glosses over nothing, and is manifestly averse to all special plead- ing. Nevertheless, the general outcome of the book is that this very strange creature, the most versatile as he was the most inconsistent of mankind, seems to us at once more real and more lovable. We have seldom seen a biography which we have liked so well as this.—In the series of "Bijou Biographies" (H. J. Drane, 6d.) we have Lord Kitchener of Khartoum, by W. Francis Aitken,
Previous page
