Memoirs of a Cynic. Edited by William Gilbert. 3 vols.
(Tinsley Brothers.)—The Cynic seems to have been driven into his better philosophy by dwelling on the iniquities of the Dean and Chapter of Westminster, who drew a very large income from a very miserable and disreputable district. Is it of any use to disinter these abuses of the past ? And is it just to set them forth for the reprobation of the reader, without making it perfectly clear that there has been a very great change ? Any person not bringing to the perusal of this book a previous knowledge of what has happened during the last forty years with regard to ecclesiastical endowments generally, and specially with regard to the capitular body of Westminster, would probably draw very false inferences from this book, and would certainly have a grossly exaggerated idea of their income. And this error would be confirmed by the fact that references to quite recent events—as, for instance, to the Pea- body Buildings—are mixed up with the argument. Is it true, by the way, that the trustees of the Bluecoat School refused £600,000 for their house and grounds in Newgate Street ? Our impression is that they would have been glad to take it, but that the company's railway scheme fell through. And if they did refuse it, they did so because they hoped to get more. It is bard to call what, at the worst, is a mistaken zeal for the benefit of the charity, "a gross abuse of charitable funds." The book, on the whole, is somewhat tedious, though relieved now and then by graphic touches of description. It is written in indifferent English, and must surely have received but little care from the editor. How could Mr. Gilbert have passed such an expression as "this might account for the apathy he held us in ?"
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