Evening star., 1933-11-05
THE EDWARDIAN ERA, BY Andre MauroiS.
New York D. Appleton Century Co.

T HE subtle irony of M. Maurois' method
in none Of his books better illustrated than
Edward VII. The most serious facts are SO
related as to suggest satiric implications or
to reveal hidden humor In the first chap
ter. which is a nunc dimittis for Queen Vic
toria and ends with her death and the acces-
sion Of Edward VII, there is a brief descrip-
ton OF the royal residence at Osborne, where
the Queen died refashioned by Prince Albert,
with his great taste and the impress Of his
dear hand" the words of the Queen). where
the alcoves of the halls were hung with stuffs
of garter blue and surrounded by shells Of
gilt plaster each inclosing the bust of some
German ancestor" M. Maurois sympathy is
with the chief figure of his volume which Is
the biography Of England during a period
rather than that Of its King alone. Edward
VII seems to him decidedly the victim of too
smugly virtuous parents If he was the bad
boy of the royal household, it was because his
father was more Of a German professor" than
"a great English gentleman" and his mother
. was shaped by his father into his ideal.
According to his custom, NJ Maurois has
used little original documentary material and
his work probably contributes nothing new to
knowledge Of the Edwardian era Its value,
like that Of his "Disraeh' and Byron" is in
its penetrating Interpretation Of characters and
events and its distinctive literary quality. His
work should all be judged as literature not Is
nlSCOry. OuQerQSdtn CQc reOclllOn against the
strict upbringing decreed by his father and
the leading strings which the Queen attempted
to keep attached to Edward even after he was
a stout, middle-aged man, M. Mauros finds
strong resemblance to his m-ther. He looked
like her. He had her sound sense, her natural
goodness toward others, her smile Like her,
he was fanatically punctual and methodical '''
Like the Queen, he looked for accuracy rather
than beauty in works of art = He was also
like the Queen in his desire to be informed of
the most trifling incident" He was unlike her
in his aptitude for scandals, his fondness for
cards, women and wasteful expenditure. His
real services to European diplomacy and his
liberalism in domestic affairs are fully treated.
More broadly still, the Edwardian era is con-
strued as the transition between Victorianism
and all that it signified and the period which
saw the World War and its results. Did the
alliances which Edward helped to bring about
contribute to the causes Of the war Edwardian
England was conservative, mperaIistic, but
court society very liberal. In describing
the death of Edward M. Maurois says: when
Queen Alexandra saw that there was no hope,
she sent for Mrs Keppel to come to the palace,
and herself led her by the hand to the dying
King" Smart society mourned the death of q
comrade; serious society looked forward to a
more strict and selective court regime But
Edward, whatever his pleasant little wicked
nesses, as Wilfrid Blunt put it in his diary, left
the prestige of the crown even higher than he
found it. HE realized, as his mother had
done, that the hidden strength of the crown
was the resolve never to conflict with the
peoples will, clearly voiced by the Commons"
THE OLD MAN DIES. BY Elizabeth Sprigge
New York The Macmillan Co.
THE Old Man, Thomas Rushbrooke, from his
sick-chamber,, with ghostly hand, controls
the thoughts and actions of all the waiting
family-waiting for him die. He delays