To Gipsyland. By Joseph and Elizabeth Pennell. (T. Fisher Unwin.)—One
could be sure that two such artists as Mr. and Mrs. Pennell would be in their element in recording with combined pen and pencil the Romany. Mrs. Pennell describes with infectious enthusiasm how the advent of a gipsy band to Philadelphia, fascinated her and woke in her the desire to see the gipsiesim their Hungarian home. They played to her, and so played with heart. She never, however, quite realised the charm with which the tumultuous Czarthis of the Philadelphia Beer Garden caught her youthful impressionable mind. They hunted and hunted without obtaining complete satisfaction. Now and again they found the old fire, but the demand for the Tzigane music had spoilt the soul of it, and if they really saw the gipsy in his home, for he has almost become a peasant now., the real gipsy is sketched for us once only by Mr. Pennell. But they saw the gipsy better than most people, and understood him better. While Mrs. Pennell reveals the gipsy character to us with true insight, Mr. Pennell depicts him with equal skill; indeed, one without the other would only half describe these wild creatures. It is, perhaps, needless to add that'Mr. Pennell's pen-drawings are marvellously effective, and he has particularly rendered the sharpness of figures in the hot, clear air of the south-eastern plains. Nor are the dark and moonlight effects less striking. He adapts his art skilfully to the hard and sharp effects, which, indeed, best suit it, though his English landscapes and effects can show a softer touch. Rarely are author and artist more notably the complement of each other than in To Gipsyland.
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