MARCO POLO ULYSSES HENRY NORMAN, having returned from a comprehensive
tour in foreign parts, has set forth his experience in a handsome
volume published by FISHER UNWIN. _The Far Fast_ is its alluring and
well-sustained title. But why drag in ULYSSES and MARCO POLO? Their
journeyings were on the scale of a jaunt to Switzerland as compared
with Mr. NORMAN'S. He has travelled through British, French, Spanish
and Portuguese Colonies; has visited Siberia, China, Japan, Corea,
Siam and Malaya. Whether in his study of political problems, his
pictures of people, or his sketches of scenery, he is equally keen and
habile. Anything that relates to China is peculiarly interesting
just now, and Mr. NORMAN throws a flood of light on the state of
the unwieldly empire. The description of the examination halls is
instructive. The Government of China, Mr. NORMAN testifies, is a vast
system of competitive examination tempered by bribery. Those who
come out successfully in examinations--the subject-matter of which is
knowledge of the works of CONFUCIUS, the history of China, and the
art of writing as practised by the old masters--have berths found
them under the Government. They are sent all over the country to be
magistrates, generals, ship captains, engineers, without having the
slightest acquaintance with details or systems over which they are put
in a position of command. This fully accounts for what has taken place
in recent campaigns by land and sea in the Far East. We can't all
undertake Mr. NORMAN'S monumental journey. But, adapting SHERIDAN'S
advice to his son on a certain occasion, my Baronite counsels the
public to read _The Far East_ and say they've been there.
The immortal FLACCUS (writes one of the Baron's assistants) has, it
appears, been sojourning in Cambridge, having gone into residence
there some time before he stayed at Hawarden, either for translation
or perversion. I make this statement after reading a delightful little
book of light verse entitled _Horace at Cambridge_, by OWEN
SEAMAN (London, A. D. INNES & CO.). To every University man, and
particularly, of course, to Cambridge men, this book will be a
rare treat. But in virtue of its humour, its extreme and felicitous
dexterity of workmanship both in rhyme and metre, and the aptness
of its allusions, it will appeal to a far wider public. I pledge Mr.
SEAMAN in a bumper of College Audit! and beg him to give us more of
his work.