SOME BOOKS OF THE WEEK.
[Notice in this column does not necessarily preclude subsequent review.] * A Gift of Napoleon. By Sir Lees Knowles. (Lane. 10s. 6d. net.)—The smallest incident in the life of Napoleon excites interest. As he was dying just a century ago, he sent to the officers of the 20th Foot, now the let Battalion Lancashire Fusiliers, who were in garrison at St. Helena, a copy of Coxe's life of Marlborough. The book had been given to him a year before by Captain Robert Spencer, R.N., a son of the second Earl Spencer. Sir Hudson Lowe, the Governor, who was strangely wanting in good sense, disgraced Captain Engelbert Lutyens, the officer who accepted the book, on the ground that the words " L'Empereur Napoleon " were written on the title- page. The regiment, however, kept the three volumes, and still possesses them. Sir Lees Knowles's little treatise records these facts, and shows that the obnoxious words on the title-page aro probably in the handwriting of St. Denis, the Emperor's librarian. The author adds a chapter on the old song, " Malbrouck s'en va-t-en guerre," which is interesting but hardly relevant. A number of photographs illustrate the main argument.
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