The New York herald., 1920-12-05
Friend of Poets
and Statesmen

dIlu OLdIOOlllOll
MARGOT ASQUITH: AN AUTOBIOG-
RAPHY. Two volumes. George III.
Doran Company.
Heralded in advance on both sides Of
the Atlantic as a coming sensation,
Mrs. Asquith's autobiography has full
filled all the prophecies. London news
papers have devoted columns to the
of Malice in Cumberland" others
keenly championing the lady's frank
ness. Margot Asquith promised to
write without fear or favor exactly
what I think and with strict regard
for the unmodelled truth" Curious II
is, perhaps, that the book should ex-
press so much of the vivid personality
of the writer that it is evoking the
same sort of bitter partisanship that
Margot Asquith has evoked herself
during her whole unusual lifetime.
Even on this side of the water cas-
ual comments are diametrically OPP
posed A man who has lived in Lon
don for the last five years thus ex-
presses the harsh view: "The book Is
unpleasant. Margot Asquith has been
quite spoiled always by the people
about her. Now she Is trying to en-
large her circle of admirers to the
whole world" But a reader who had
looked for the actual merits in the
book and found them declared: Mrs.
Asquith was maligned when people
called her the woman with the SER
pent's tongue She is not bitter; she
is keenly alive-a vital woman who
has been too much engrossed in her
own consciousness to bother about the
effect of her words upon others"
Here is reality-the actual stuff and
substance from which situations and
events are fashioned. Warp and woof.
she has shown us the underside OF the
tapestry of English social and politi-
cal life during the last decade. One
may find some of the revelations in
execrable taste, but it must be ad-
mitted that in breaking all the rules
Mrs. Asquith has made the game
about six times more entertaining and
startling than usual. Having disre =
garded from earliest youth the ques-
ton What will people say?" she has
made this amazingly frank book the
climax of her amazing career.
Born at Glen, in Scotland, the
daughter of Sir Charles Tenant, she
spent a GLORIOUS youth" running
rather wild on Scottish moors, where
she laid the foundations for her sub
sequent performances on the hunting
G-tI ,..,t \
fighting in a public house In London
while working the slums were char
acteristic exploits of her youth. On
the other side Of the picture she was
startling the world of society by at
tracing royal attention from the
Prince of Wales by appealing at a
dinner in a muslin dress.
= Having been presented to the Prince
OF Wales in the paddock at Ascot by
Lady Dalhousie and having won a
gold cigarette case on the races from
him, she writes: Before 1 knew the
Prince and Princess of Wales 1 did not
go to fashionable balls, but after that
Ascot / was asked everywhere"
or seeing Lady Randolph Churchill
for the first time she writes "She
had a forehead like a panther's and
great wild eyes that looked through
you. She was so arresting that fol-
lowed her about till / found some one
who could tell me who she was. Had
Lady Randolph been like her face she
could have governed the world
Having known seven Prime Minis
tcrs more or less intimately, she
writes strikingly personal things about
G 20 af
sense of humor she quotes a story OF
her husbands. One day in the House
ne and Gladstone were discussing the
comparative ugliness of the members
Finally Gladstone said apply very
simple test. Imagine x and Y magni-
fed on a colossal scale. KS ugliness
would then begin to look dignified and
even impressive, while the more you
enlarged Y the meaner he would be-
come"
She makes a strong claim for the
good influence of a famous circle
''Mr. Balfour once told me that before
our particular group of friends-gen.
orally known as the Souls-appearet
in London prominent politicians of op.
posite parties seldom II ever met one
another. The same question of home
rule that threw London back to the
old parochialisms in 1914 was at IT.
height In 1886 and 1887. but at oui
house in Grosvenor Square, and latel
in those of the Souls, every one met
Randolph Churchill, Gladstone, As
quith. Harrington, Harcourt. and.
might add, jockeys, actors, the Prince
Of Wales and every Ambassador ir
London. We never cut anybody-no'
even our friends-or thought 1t anus
ing or distinguished to make people
feel uncomfortable, and our decision
not to sacrifice private friendship t'
public politics was envied in every cap
ital in Europe. 1t made London the
centre of the most interesting society
in the world and gave men of differ
ent tempers and opposite beliefs ar
opportunity of discussing them with
out heat and without reporters. Their,
is no individual or group among NJ
powerful enough to succeed in havins
a salon of this kind to-day"
OF the late Duchess of Devonshire
the last great political lady in London