The Shervintons: Soldiers of Fortune. By Kathleen Shervins ton. (T.
Fisher Unwin. 10s. 6d.)—C. R. St. L. Shervinton came of a house of soldiers (his father, grandfather, and great-grand- father had had commissions in the Army), and began life as a naval cadet ; faUin to pass the examination for commissions, he en- listed in the 11th Hussars. Bought out by his father, he learnt land-surveying, and then tried coffee-planting, diversified by tiger-shooting. In 1877 he volunteered for service in South Africa. Here he remained, taking part in all the fighting that was going, till 1884, when an appointment in Madagascar was offered him by General Digby Willoughby. His career in this island, and how it was brought to a close by the French conquest, is well known. What we here read lets us see more clearly what a difference there would have been had the Hovas listened to his counsels. But the Hovas had lost the qualities which made them a dominant race, and no one can regret their fall. Nor can any one doubt that the French behaved shabbily to him. It is true that they had no reason to love him, but to confiscate his property was mean.
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