A PUNGENT GOSSIP.
A Londoner's Log-Book. By the Author of "Collections and Recollections." (Smith, Elder, and Co. 5s.)—Mr. G. W. E. Russell has added to the debt which he has already conferred upon all who love a laugh by the republication of the amusing record of the time which he contributed to the Cornhill Magazine during 1901-2. One is sincerely glad to meet again the personages of that amusing chronicle,—Mr. Soulsby and his athletic curate, Mr. Bumpstead ; the Londoner himself and his Selina, with her artless aspirations to be a Duchess, or at least with the Duchesses to stand; the old maiden aunt who emerged from her seclusion when
bridge became fashionable, and, as the best female player in London, was admitted to many smart houses under the cognomen of " Ponte Vecchia"; and the rest of this motley crew in whose persons Mr. Russell satirises that tipper middle class society which he knows so well. His satire is occasionally a little bitter, as in the parody on a well-known diarist which occupies one of his monthly chapters. The extracts from Mr. Soulsby's journal are very funny, but rather cruel. A piece of satire which one can receive with less protest is that on "Sir Richard Calmady,"— a success of sensationalism which is certainly fair game for the ribald critic. Mr. Russell has an intimate acquaintance with the dark places of politics, and his sketch of the way in which Mr. Bar- rington-Bounderley was ousted from his seat by the " new man," Mr. Cashington, is extremely witty,—and, one fears, true to life. Mr. Cashington's interview with Lord Rosebery is very fasci- nating, as is the discussion of Christian Science, of the various patent foods that are now in vogue, and of modern tendencies in the Church. Mr. Russell has a pretty wit, and tells many good stories. Perhaps his book will hardly outlive the fads and follies which it satirises, but it is a very entertaining addition to our current literature.
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