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Some people are disposed to deny to Mr. GLADSTONE a sense of humour.
They will surely reconsider their judgment in view of the fact that the
late PREMIER made the author of _Work and Wages_ (LONGMANS) a
Lord-in-waiting to the QUEEN. The volume contains in handy form a
series of addresses and papers spoken and written by Lord BRASSEY
during the last quarter of a century. They disclose profound knowledge,
not only of the principles that underlie the connection between Work
and Wages, but of the everyday practices that sometimes control it.
Throughout, the book is marked by a broad spirit and statesmanlike view
which, if more common, would make strikes much more uncommon. As Mr.
GEORGE HOWELL in his introduction points out, when in 1869 the young
member for Hastings (not yet Lord BRASSEY) addressed the House of
Commons on the subject of Trade Unions there were very few members who
knew anything about the subject, except that they did not like it. Mr.
BRASSEY, the son of one of the greatest employers of labour of the day,
had the breadth of mind to recognise the right of industrial
organisation representing labour, and lived to see the ban against
trades unions removed by the House of Commons. The book is, my Baronite
says, the most valuable contribution to the intricate question
discussed of any recently published. Truly a most remarkable work for
an ex-lord-in-waiting. We shall next hear of Mr. "BOBBY" SPENCER coming
out with a treatise on the Solar Parallax.
"With delight," writes a young Baronite, "the ordinary schoolboy turns
from even Old ÆSOP'S words of wisdom to the ever-blissful fascinations
of cowboys, Red Indians, and all the untrammelled pleasures of ranch
life which are to be met with in following _The Great Cattle Trail_, by
EDWARD S. ELLIS (CASSELL & CO.); and certainly life appears very, so
very interesting, when you can be a hero with Buffalo Bill effect."
_Five Stars in a Little Pool_, by EDITH CARRINGTON (CASSELL & CO.),
suggests lives and billiards, but that is the wrong cue to give, except
that it is five little stories in black on white, "red" is added when
you've finished the book.
CASSELL & CO. evidently, or, says a Baronite fresh from school,
"_Ovid_ently" put a new construction on "_Ars est celare Artem_," for
in their _Magazine of Art_ it is clearly shown not only what Art does
but how it does it. The etchings and photogravures are charming. There
is a capital article on stage costumes, and among them is found the
original idea out of which the fashionable Serpentine dance was
twirlingly evolved.
Most little people will be much amused by the waggish tale of _Toby_,
by ASCOTT R. HOPE. He is not of course _Mr. Punch's_ "Toby," _cela va
sans dire_. There cannot be two Tobies. It is "Toby or not Toby," and
there is no "question" about it. This Toby, to whom _the_ Toby never
stood godfather, gives us the benefit of his amusing opinions. He is
brought out by INNES (& CO.), and is one of the daintiest dogs in the
Dainty Book Series. So much for _Toby_.
Any who read the first series of _Eighteenth Century Vignettes_, by
AUSTIN DOBSON, will eagerly welcome a second series issued by the same
publishers, Messrs. CHATTO AND WINDUS. Of all writers at work to-day,
Mr. AUSTIN DOBSON is most profoundly steeped in the literary essence of
the Eighteenth Century, and is most successful in reproducing its
flavour. In writing about SWIFT, RICHARDSON, Dr. JOHNSON, or the
topography of HUMPHREY CLINKER (a learned, yet most mellow
disquisition), he does not condescend to the easily-acquired trick of
introducing archaic words, or inverting sections of phrases with which
we are familiar in the works of some other artists on the same broad
pavement. Yet, withal, there is in the literary style of these pleasant
chats round about the old writers, booksellers and bookbuyers, a
certain distinct Eighteenth Century flavour. So intimate is Mr. DOBSON
with the ways, the personal appearance, the dress, the daily
environment, and the little gestures of the more or less mighty dead,
that he is able to recall them to startlingly vivid life. His picture
of SWIFT writing to STELLA from his bed in the back room of a first
floor in Bury Street, St. James's, is a masterpiece of live
portraiture.