New-York tribune., 1906-02-25

Der OF his years in London Journalism and in /
travel has geniaIy set down in this volume |
his rorniniseences OF the famous and interest /
inE people he has known and of manners and
customs in England and Scotland forty years |
'HSo. X Is OF men and OF the affairs and sports |
q men that he writes, and writes with healthy |
nearly enthusiasm His sporting sketches are |
10 he specially commended to brothers Of the |
rod and gun; most amusing also are his anec- |
dotes OF the oldtine poacher and sbenber5 |
and Of the oldtime coachmen who drove before
the rail had superseded the road OF the COM
i'Flahle old days in London lodgings where a /
b@theloT could live in clover under the care Of a |
landlord OF substance retired butler or courier
The author has almost pathetic recoIlections- |
reductions which take the reader back into !
TIE world Of Thackeray and Dickens
M Shand remembers Queen Victoria as a |
pretty, smiling, dainty young matron caressing
t1e little princess royal at her knee-both are |
gone, worn with age and sorrow. He remem-
bers Wellington horseback, a lightweight |
spare OF figure, In fauItless attire "the but
toned blue frock coat the white ducks tightly
strapped down and the stock with the silver !
buckle showing conspicuously behind" So he |
rides past as. with distracted face, gazing fix
edly before him mechanically he kept raising his
finger 10 the brim of his hat in answer to the /
incessant salutations he rather expected than
one OF the ugliest Of mortal men and one who
apparently prided himself on his defects:
TIE lofty forehead scarcely redeemed the mouth
Ile nose. the cadaVerous complexion. and the ewes
selves 50 easily 10 most diabolieaI scoIgIs Wei
hfeton was austerely spick and span; Brougham
81 day when statesmen and ieeisators were si
trolsers: il was said he had picked up a web OF
i ss SIMS so1a I a. sefT.ce atfeT sTTRa5ns ta6u,
c1tch phrase in those days Of What a shocking
1est it was oSsie 10 c5acege hfeeoe TS b95ter
6ttST, VIII VIII The orlstles rubbed the wrong way:
of the gutter HIS gestures were as grotesque as
nose q Johnson; ard in his oratory he carried
sr191 70 The heights and depths Of absurdity- He
ana beloved Ike = bull OF Bashan-
Many noted figures Of literature pass through
those pages One OF them is George Meredith,
walking fast with 'the buoyant Gallo tempera-
reEt, with flow OF esprit to the very finger
tips; mind and body seemed 70 be set on
springs" There is a particularly vivid account
q Laurence Oliphant that stormy petreT" Of
diplomacy and Journalism. He was the most
rash 0f var correspondents but il was not the
battlefield that he encountered his greatest risk
He told me" says Shand his nerves were
never more severely tried than when he on
Times duty at Lyons and attending a great
socialist meeting. Perfdious England was bit
terly denounced when the ruTnor somehow |
got about that a SPY Of The Times was
present The rabid mob were their legs TO |
hunt him out, when Olphant jumped up with |
the others, and with his stanch friend Leroy /
Beauleu, began looking everywhere below the |
benches Needless 10 say, he did not find the l
man he was hunting for" II is worth while re- /
ulenbering Shands statement that Orphant, as
q good Judge OF courage, always maintained /
after the Franco German Var that the German /
dash and determination came short of that of |
the Americans in the Civil War
A contributor 20 the London "Times' in its
strongest days. Shand was the friend Of sue |
cessiVe editors. the most remarkable of whom |
he declares was John DeIane. He reminds US
that Delane was only twenty-fOur when the /
post was offered him, and describes the incident
In the words Of the editors lifelong courade, /
John BlackRood. THE youths were living to- |
gether IL St James's Square. One morning De- |
lane burst into their room excIaiuing: by . |
John, what do you think has happened? am /
Editor OF "'The Times Forthwith he buckled /
10 the arduous task and from the first Printing |
House Square Acknowledged the master"
OF John Blackwood and his brilliant group Of
contributors Shand as one Of the circle, has
much TO say. II is a pleasure 70 find in his
notes on General HaUley adHiring reference 1
20 that writer's masterpiece, shakespeare
Funeral" a bit Of work whose charm is truly
-f,n -Ta.-c 1ra ar llee