SORE BOOKS_ OF'. THE WEEK;
r [Uncle,' "heading -we notice such Book(' of the week 'as 'have -not' been teserred for review other forms.) ' The Pocket Disraeli. Compiled by J. B. Lindenbaum. (Mills -and Boon. ls. net.)—From what other statesman's works could so entertaining an anthology have been collected? Disraeli's political foresight might be paralleled, though many of his observations are strikingly to the point to-day. For instance : "I cannot force from my mind the conviction that a House of Commoni;concen- trating in itself the whole power of the State, mightL-I should rather say would—establish in this country a despotism of the most formidable and dangerous character." But it is difficult to imagine any other Prime Minister who could express himself with such brilliance. Many of his epigrams have passed into the language. Of these we may quote "You know who the critics are ? The men who have failed in Literature and Art " and "The hansom—'tis the gondola of London." Many other reflections .no less pointed and amusing are to be found in the pages of Mr. Lindenbaum's volume. [" A sound Conserva- tive Government is Tory men and Whig. measures." "Be frank and explicit. That is the right line to take when you wish to conceal your own mind and to confuse the minds of others."] But Mr. Lindenbaum also gives examples of another and less attractive side of Disraeli's mind, quotations which prove his unrestrained passion for the showy and the florid. Here are a few- sentences from an apostrophe on love : " Magnificent, sublime, divine sentiment ! An immortal flame burns in the breast of that man who adores and is adored. He is an ethereal being. The accidents of earth touch him not. Revolutions of empire, changes of creed, mutations of opinion are to him but the clouds and meteors of a stormy sky. . . . " And so on indefinitely. Such specimens are fortunately rare, and the greater number of the pieces chosen illustrate admirably one of the best among them: "Always leave a with a point."
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