THE RUSSIAN COURT IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.
The Russian Court in the Eighteenth Century. By Fitzgerald Molloy. 2 vols. (Hutchinson and Co. 245. net.)—This belongs to a class of books which it is difficult to appreciate. They are certainly not edifying, and yet they tell a story which has to be told. How can we understand the French Revolution unless we know something about the crimes of the ancien rggime? And how can we understand the Russia of to-day except we see how it was governed in the past. But it must be confessed that the task of making oneself acquainted with these things is nothing less than nauseous. There is scarcely a relief in the uniform level of baseness and wickedness. Sometimes we come across a strong man or woman ; but a good one almost never. What a story, for instance, is that of the deposition of Peter by Catherine ! There is nothing quite so sordid even in the revolu- tions, whether accomplished in the Palace or the camp, of the Roman or the Byzantine Empire. And in the midst of it all "the Holy Synod awaited to greet and congratulate her," while the crowds admired her piety when, having doffed her uniform, she went to attend Mass. Less than a week after this the deposed Peter was dead,—of dysentery, it was said. It was not he, it was she, who was felix opportunitate mortis. Mr. Molloy acquits her of complicity, and it is perfectly trim that the Orloffs were capable of that or of any other crime; but that she was "an inexperienced young woman" who did not know that her deposed husband would be a source of danger we cannot believe, even on the authority of Frederick the Great. For an "inexperienced young woman" she acted with extraordinary courage and readiness.
Reminiscences of Arbroath and St. Andrews. By D. S. Salmond (Brodie and Salmond.)—Arbroath, in common with all Scottish towns that we have read about, has produced many great men, divines, scholars, merchants, humourists, conscious or unconscious. Mr. Salmond shows us a portrait gallery of them, chiefly interesting, no doubt, to those who hail from the town, but readable in any case. St. Andrews does not occupy much space in Mr. Salroond's volume ; he has, however, some early recollections of golf, of the days when there was but one course, and that of nine holes only. There is some entertainment to be got from Mr. Salmond's book. But we prefer to have his memories rather than his opinions.
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