Evening star., 1928-10-28
IDA GILBERT MYERS.

IDA G1LbEhI MYERS.
MEMORIES AND REFLECTIONS:
1852-1927. BY The Earl of oxford
and Asquith. K. G. Boston; Little,
Brown g. Co.
TO have occupied a position OF the
highest distinction in the pub
lie affairs of a great and iIr-
fluential country at an epochal
point in the worlds history
such is the warrant of wide welcome
with which the Earl Of oxford and
Asuuith comes before readers by way
of Memories and Reflections" Seventy
five years of life are represented here
so of these active in progressive use
fulneSs of service to the well being OF
Great Britain.
When Mr.. Asquith was born the
United States was approaching the
Civil War His youth and early man
hood conceded with the reconstruction
period following that war. Then came
the wonderful expansion Of our own
country. And then the World War,
wherein England and the United States
met in loyal brotherhood pledged to
freedom. 1t was at this point that
Mr.. Asquith'S career reached its helgnt
of experience and of service. Behind
him as part of his earlier advance
ment was the Boer War. and after that
MANY a serious problem of party poll
tics and matters of industry to tax the
powers of all English statesmen. 1t IL
over this field-this English and Ameri-
can field-that we draw near this man
of England to listen to the experiences
which have tested and proved him TO
the respect of his own country and OF
ours.
The book begins in the Geographic
fashion, continuing In this vein only
long enough to give the forbears and
home place and early years of Mr.
Asuuith. Then the two volumes merge
into these chapters of Renaissance
which cover the politics, the foreign
policy, the vital action of Parliament at
this important point or at that one,
the common life of the people, the men
distinguished In one field or another
who have served England, the achieve
ments of literature and art, the per-
sonal attendance of this celebrity, OF
that general benefactor. In a WORD.
these recollections gather up in orderly
units the full pattern of England as
this has formed within the memory
and cooperation of the writer.
Books of this class do not lend them
selves, as a rule, to consecutive and
orderly reading. One of their dear
delights is the opportunity to pick and
choose, here and there, for the readers
own lines of preference. Those in
terested in the work of Parliament at
different crucial points will find here
vivid and vital memories of action
and reaction. A beautiful chapter, per-
sonal and intimate, is Some Eminent
Victorians," with Tennyson and George
Eliot and Meredith, actually alive and
iy1or
Queen" something in the way of reve-
lation, Is most interesting. But, it Is
all interesting and, as the war ap-
proaches, this interest centers upon
that event. There is much to satisfy
one here in the record of the early
months of 1915, in the story of 'The
Dardanelles; Lord Fishers Resigna
ton; in military matters centering
around the attitude of Lord Kitchener.
Then there, are lighter and happier,
"reminiscences of Women in Politics"
of the clubs, of recreations generally.
A very rich and useful and stirring
Of its kind, contributes substantially to
the history Of the times that is repre-
sentS.
BEAU IDEAL. BY Percival Christopher
Wren, author of Beau Geste," etc.
New York: Frederick A. Stokes Co.
MANY agree that this is the best of
AVA the three Beau" tales of the
French Foreign Legion by Christopher
Wren. These say that the general ac-
ton of the new novel has lost nothing
Of the high heroism that marked the
other two; that its North African set
ting still holds the full sum of its pc
culiar exotic charm; that the native
ly projected; that the alien soldiery
continues to comport itself in compell-
ing fashion,. that the outstanding char
acters have gained, even, in the quail
ties that first made them outstanding.