A Mixed Travel-Bag
IT is appalling to think of the lines on which some travel is conducted, as illustrated by Clara E. Laughlin's omnium gatherum guidebook, So You're going to Germany and Austria (Methuen, 10s. 6d.). Emphatically a book for the noble and unhappily numerous army of Hustlers, one hopes it may please some of them. , Not with the breathless rush of the foregoing, but conceived in a more leisurely vein, is Mr. Louis Untermeyer's Blue Rhine Black Forest (Harrap, 7s. 6d.). It will instruct you as to what sort of beer to drink at Karlsruhe, tells in full the Lorelei legend, appending a dreadful translation of Heine's poem, and is a book of little distinction either of matter or manner.
Wholly different are Mr. Stephen Gwynn's Burgundy (Harrap, 75. 6d.), one of the " Kitbag " series, and Travels in Normandy (Bell, 7s. 6d.), by Mr. Roy Elston. These two books put the prospective traveller in touch with the spirit and also, very properly, with the wines of the country they describe, and are a delight to read. Of high literary quality, they are also eminently practical, and where the authors have pointed the way to enjoyment and the beautiful, the tourist. may safely follow. Mr. Gwynn has several notes on angling and suggests Avallon as a useful centre. Most Burgundian waters hold trout, but Mr. Gwynn might perhaps have cautioned the would-be angler that, if an inn stands near the stream he proposes to fish, he would do well to call there first and see if it keeps a tankful of trout for use in the kitchen ; if so, the fisherman need not unease. his rod. With some stretch of geography Burgundy is made to include Bourg la Bresse and the Church of Brou with its glorious craftsmanship. Mr. Gwynn does not much like the church ; Matthew Arnold did, though he massacred historical and every other reality in describing it. As the old Town House of Dijon rather than Brou more truly translates the spirit of Burgundy, so the Norman soul is revealed in Caudebec, in the stately houses of Lisieux, in Rouen, and possibly in Caen, and Mr. Elston's attractive book paints the glories and the delicate charm of these with a remarkable felicity of phrase and humour.
Then follow four books on the mountainous regions of our own isles, all oddly enough written by clergymen. Pride of place must be allotted to Dr. Crockett's well-known The Scott Country (Black, 7s. 6d.), of which, as it is a revised edition of an old favourite, it is sufficient 'merely to note the appearance. Dr. William McConachie's Glamour of the Glen (Oliver and Boyd, 7s. 6d.) is a quietly written series of nature studies among the Lammermoor Hills, principally ornithological. The author was fortunate in being able to observe and record the presence in Berwickshire of the rare yellow-browed warbler (phylloscopus superciliosus), and it is interesting to find him noting the increase in Berwickshire of the goldfinch, an increase which is observable also in many parts of England. Autumns in Skye, Ross and Sutherland (Grant, 7s. Od.), by the Rev. T. R. Barnett, consists of sketches most of which have already appeared in the daily Press of Scotland. At times they are a trifle too eloquent, but for the exiled Scot they will, no doubt, revive visions of " the lone shieling on the misty island," so that in dreams he may again " behold the Hebrides." An unctuous sapience and an overplus of egotistical didacticism characterize the Rev. Mr. Watkin Davies' A Wayfarer in Wales (Methuen, 7s. 6d.). He suggests, however—and it is probably true—that the best way of getting to the heart of Wales is to penetrate her past Llangollen up the valley of the Dee.
Wales, says Mr. Davies, is a foreign country, though, except for the language, one sees in his book no strong ground for this confident dogma. Anyhow, there may be those who care not at all for foreign travel and would sooner stay and explore in their own native London, and late summer must be a suitable time to push the quest, for we are told that everyone has, at that season, left London. Three books come pat to the explorer's purpose—Mr. A. H. Blake's London Cameos (Jenkins, as.) at the head of the triad. Charmingly terse, as a cameo should be, charmingly selected and charmingly instructive, this booklet can teach the born Londoner much and the visitor to our town more, but, when its new edition comes along, let it have an index. Mr. Sidney Dark's London Town (Harrap, 7s. 6d.), another and a worthy " Kitbag " book, gives play to the human touch. " Come out into the streets with me," it says, " and see what a lot of jolly or interesting folk we shall meet." It is humanity, then, that chiefly engages him throughout his perambulations, and when we hear him say that " the qualities of Bethnal Green are the fundamental qualities of Belgravia," we expect him to follow (though he does not) with, " Hearts just as pure and fair may beat in Belgrave Square as in the lowlier air of Seven Dials." Despite Mr. John Burns' introductory ponderosity, Touring London (Batsford, 4s.) with W. Teignmouth Shore is going to be a happy experience. In four tours he will take you all round the town, and on your own account you can go a-roving and a-rivering down to Wapping, Limehouse and Greenwich.
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