Evening star., 1933-08-27

autobiography much more interesting than
most medicated fiction.
GLADSTONE By Francis Birrell.
BEETHOVEN. BY Alan Pryce-Jones.
GEORGE ELIOT BY Anne Fremantle
SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. BY John Steeg-
mann. All in Gfeat Lives Series. New York:
The Macmillan Co.
EIGHTEEN volumes have already been pub
l. lished in this valuable series OF little books
adapted to the reader who wants all the salient
facts Of life in small compass. The writer's
in the series have been selected for their espe-
cial interest In their subjects and are none Of
them mere hack writer's. The requirements
are like those for articles in the Dictionary Of
American Biography-accuracy Of material,
compactness of method, but also some dstinc-
ton Of style. Other Lives which have appeared
in the series are of Shakespeare Queen Vic
toria, Wagner. John Wesley. Cecil Rhodes, the
Brontes, Charles II, Dickens, H n Stanley
william Blake Sheridan. Robert Burns Edward
VII and Thackeray. Each volume Is accom-
panied by . brief chronology. always . help
in following the career of any Biographical
subject
Mr.. Birrells summing up of Gladstone is ad-
mirable: Whatever may have been his failings
as . statesman and his limitations as an in
tellect there was never anything mediocre in
his nature. Though unsuccessful in many Of
y,
on occasion raise the democracy to his own
level. Anxious no doubt to gain power he
never feared to lose it, If honor required and
since his day few enough have been the states
men who have ever even tried to direct the
forces of public opinion" Mr. Pryce-Jones
believes that Beethoven is secure for . long
time to come in both popular and professional
favor because he even pleases q cinema
audience and appeals to the intelligence Of all
musicians and the emotions of some. Anne
Fremantle writes of George Eliot almost with
personal affection. though her critical judg-
in earnest that her emotions reach U.s. in spite
Of our instructive suspicion of them She let
her sense Of sin darken her life and her writ
tngs. The best she has writetn Is of the
earth, earthly and as such will endure As long
as the English countryside" Mr.. Steegmann
sees Sir Joshua Reynolds as the reyitalizer OF
the English school of painting not its founder.
Ranged behind him are the figures Of Hudson,
Highmore Richardson, Riley and Dobson, per
haps . little obscured by the splendor that
stands between us and them but yet they are
the native stock from which the master is
descended, his paternal ancestry"
THE CAPTAINS CURIO BY Eden PHIL
potts. New York: The Macmillan Co.
uCHARACTER is always . vital factor" says
- Detective Inspector James Midwinter in
going over all the possibilities IN connection
with the murder of old Martin knox, former
London paWnbroker In the bed room of his
villa At Daleham- -on-Exe. Because Of the de-
pendability Of character Midwinter and all
the villagers are certain that Miss Louisa Jane
Hoddy, housekeeper of Mr.. Knox, could in no
way have connived at his murder. The theft at
the time of the murder of two large -4ubies from
the safe In Knox's room. estimated to be worth
more than half his total estate, furnishes q
possible motive. But the lack Of probable
suspects makes the representative of Scotland.
Yard impatient. Mr.. Knox was Q kindly, gen.
erous old man. a re:luse. but possessed Of the
goodwill Of the whole village. He subscribed
to all local charities and other enterprises was
an old-fashioned Conservative, q supporter Of
the Primrose League, q good churchman. al
ways responsive to the wears needs for money.
Before age and III health had compelled him
to a very quiet manner Of life. he had been
wears warden. OF late years almost the only
persons he had seen had been his housekeeper
and servants, his doctor and his nephew, Mr..
Sabine Knox who lived in London and fire.
quently ran down for short visit to his uncle,
of whom he was apparently very fond. None
OF these could by any reasonable person be con-
nected with the avarice and cruelty involved In
the crime. On two days Immediately preceding
the murder colored man, q stranger In the
village, had been seen there and had asked two
different local inhabitants for the address of
Martin Knox