Evening star., 1961-11-12

volume. Is far from a re-hash
or synthesis of what has gone
before. 1t is 1hther a political
and military history of Eng
land crystalized by the double
catalyst Of Churchill and his
father. Lord Randolph
Churchill.
1t is curious that Mr.. de
MendelSsohn in his preface
dwells at length on the dis
tinctions between history and
biography and places his
book on the borderline Of
both. calling it The Age Of
Churchill"-the past hun
.dred years in England, a
century that created the
Churchills and was in turn
nodded by them. In fact. the
book seems largely Q political
history, tied closely to Parlia-
ment. and even the picture Of
Winston Churchill, brilliant
and three -dimensional though
It is, is taken largely Of the
young statesman and parlia-
mentarian at work.
Lord Randolph, direct de-
scendant of John Randolph,
Duke of. Marlborough, and
!. owner Of the fabulous (to try
to rehabilitate a desecrated
adjective) Blenheim Palace,
was a mercurial. hard-driv-
ing, self-centered man who
early in life rose to be one of
the most powerful members
of the House of Commons. a
aprime policymaker Of the
Tory Party, and Chancellor
of the Exchequer, the sec
ond highest position under
the Crown.
He married Jennie Jerome.
an extraordinarily beautiful
p and fascinating American.
part Indian. The reader Is
made somewhat unhappy by
Mr.. de Mendelssohn who,
after involving him with this
captivating character in the
first part Of the story. drops
Lady Randolph almost as
soon as her husband dies.
giving her only q curt para
graph for her second and
third marriages.
81
'. Although young Winston
was never close to his father
= "a man approached with diff
ficulty - nevertheless Lord
Randolph was the strongest
single influence on the course
his life would take. Three
great loves and two implaca-
BILE hatreds infused Church.
Ills breast during the length
, of his days-the former. polo,
his fathers memory, and the
House of Commons; the lat
ter. public schools and Her
bert Horatio Kitchener. He
y was badly treated in school,
1t Is true, but perhaps his
, dislike of the institution
stems somewhat from the
fact that he was a spectacu-
larly bad scholar, with ap-
parently little talent for any
thing except the memorizing
of English poetry. Without a
touch of irony, Mr.. de Men
delsSohn makes a good case
for the patent benefits Of
: lack of intellectually to the
4. English politician.
From youth on, however,
Churchill was a prolific and
an excellent writer - clear,
persuasive, pungent, well-or-
ganized. If there are those
who for 20 years have passed
Churchill by, remembering
with a certain distaste his
wartime speeches, they will
be interested in Churchill's
own appraisal Of the style in
his novel "Savrola":: ". :.
a peroration which would cut
deep into the hearts of q
crowd: a high thought, a
: fine simile, expressed in that
correct diction which is
comprehensive even to the
most illiterate, and appeals
to the most simple: some
thing to lift their minds from
the material cares of life and
to awaken sentiment" Mr.. de
MendelsSohn's voluminous
: quotations from Churchill's
books, speeches, and letters
: show a different and far more
attractive literary ability
than that of the orotund
public addresses.
q d
Lord Randolph's fall from
eminence and disappearance
. from public life were abrupt;
lin a dispute about military
appropriations, he resigned.
= The resignation was only a
t finesse. but it was accepted,
and Lord Randolph never re-
gained the lime-light. His
dramatic exit from politics
was the cause of his sons