Evening star., 1933-01-01
Historian Life of Grocer Cleveland Is
called n Studym Courage''- e''-No0els for
the Megv Year-Stmy of Bath.

lOnaDe tnrOnRS ana the SWaTniS Oh aQVeNLureTS
and gamblers were also the inyalids, who. in
deed, felt pre-emptive right in the place, and
their attendant locust-cloud of quack doctors.
These gentlemen assiduously practiced their
art by means of bleeding, the baths and strong
physic, and during their visits dispensed the
days gossip as well Miss Sitwell who is an
authority on the eighteenth century, has
brought much research to the making OF this
book. She has discovered the officials names
of some of the remedies administered by the
Bath doctors: New gathered earth worms"
'black tips of crabs claws" mans bones cal
cined." inward skin of a capons gizzard"
goose dung gather'd in the Springtime, dry'd
in the sum-" "unicorn's horn" and Jaw of
pike" AS compared with these. cod liver oil
and thyroid extract seem very mild. OF the
five medicinal baths at Bath, only two were
fashionable. the Kings Bath and the Cross
Bath. One of the many pictures of Bath as
health resort to be found in English literature
is that drawn by Smollett in his picturesque
novel Humphrey Clinker,' in which the hypo-
ehondriac Mathew Brambie supposed to repre-
sent Smollett himself, goes with his sister Ia
bitha on an expedition in search of health and
spends some time at Bath. Mr.. Bramble for
gets his health in the excitement of discover
ing son he knew nothing about and Miss
Tabtha secures husband
During the best years of the eighteenth CEN
tury, Bath socially dominated by Beau
Nash, who first entered the town on foot in
the Summer OF 1902 "a young man with
brown wig, beneath tall, white hat, q red.
heavy face with watery blue eyes, and a rather
clumsy figure" Miss Sitwell is almost as frank
an adorer OF the Beau as were the ladies who
sought his favor at Bath and accepted his
public reproof when he considered them guilty
of rudeness or of not dancing properly. It
was at the instigation Of Beau Nash that the
famous pump room was built in 17o6, as
shelter for bathers and those drinking the
waters. 1t soon became the center of all
fashionable life, where the Beau reigned as
master of ceremonies. Later when he found
the various impertinences of people OF fashion
too numerous to be dealt with informally he
drew up his famous code of behavior, which
was posted in the pump room and other public
places. Two of the amusing rules in this code
are as follows: THAT no gentleman gives his
ticket for the balls to any but gentlemen. N. B.
Unless he has none Of his acquaintance" And
That the elder ladies and children be content
with a second bench at the ball, as being past,
or not come to perfection. ."r.,r
Not ell OF Bath" is spice. Sometimes Miss
Sitwell's research and thoroughness have led
her into tedious detail, but most of the chap
ters are full of interesting information about
the life of the period Some of the best chap
ters are: The Arrival of Beau Nash," The
Rules of Bath" "The Ghosts of a Long Sum
Hazard" "The Religious Revival in Bath" '"The
Old Age of Beau Nash" and THE Theater in
Bath" And, of course, Miss Sitwell is one of
the Sitwells and knows how to write.
AS WE ARE: A MODERN REVUE. BY E. F.
Benson. New York: Longmans, Green
Co.
\h/E still remember the fat hard pincushion
w Mr.. Benson's mother made for her guest
room when she was expecting a visit from
Queen Victoria, the life story of which was
told in "As We Were" If do not enjoy
"As We Are" quite as much as we did las
We Were" perhaps that signifies that we are
secretly a trihe Victorian perhaps 1t means
only that We are likely to find more interest in
description OF a period other than the one IN
which we are living. As We read, however, the
impression grows that Mr. Benson himself had
more pleasure in writing his "reminiscences of
his early life than he has In describing Eng
hsh life as he finds IL today. It is the life
which has come about since the World War
this side Of "the chasm which. in 1914. split
time in two" The first chapter, The Parable
House" furnishes contrast for the remainder
Of the book by describing a week end party at
Hakluyt Park, the country estate Of the SYM
bolical Lord and Lady Buryan, q few years
previous to the war. Propriety-and for some
of the guests boredom-marked the occasion.
The guests were all shepherded to church sun
day morning. including the French AmbaSsa-
dor and his wife, who had not intended going
some miles to mass. but were told at what hour
the motor would be at the door for them. A
Russian grand duke coming for dinner Sunday
evening asked for "a game OF britch" afterward
and was politely but firmly, told by Lady Bur
yam: II am so very sorry, sir. But we do not
play cards Sunday in my house.
Even before the war the receding victorians
were beginning to shake their heads at the
oncoming moderns In wartime England
changes came with such astonishing velocity
that Lord and Lady Buryan and their kind
were left breathless. That their sons and the
other young men at home from the front on
leave should turn white and be "junpy' when