BOOKS OF THE DAY.

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2635, 4 December 1915, Page 9

BOOKS OF THE DAY.

THE WAR LORDS. ! A.recent and, welcome addition to Messrs. Dent's admirable series, "The Wayfarer's Library," is.a new- edition o| ,Mr. A., G. Gardiner's studies of contemporary celebrities, "The War Lords," first , published in more .expensive form in-jJune' last. In Mr. Gardiner's previous., book,- "Prophets, Priests, and Kings," the author's' object ivas primarily the elucidation of character. In "The War Lords" lie is more concerned with the relation of character to. specific events.' As the reader 1 is;led, expect from the title, ,Mr> ; Gar-diner's new portrait studies have as;their subjects the rulers, of the opposing nations in tho great conflict now convulsing Europe. Thus : we find chapters headed:' "The Kaiser and the Origins of the' "War," "King Albert, and the, Spirit of Belgium," "King Ferdinand and the Tragedy of the'Balkans," .arid so forth. Character portraits-:* are'. 'also given of leading statesmen and military commanders, such as' Mr. Asquitlr, President Wilson,-Generals Joffre, Botha; Sir John French, and -Field-Marshal von Hiiidonberg, Lord Fisher, and Sir John jjellicoe. As in "Prophets, .Priests,: and, Kings," Mr'. : Gardiner's style' is fully'.: clear and . effective. He • pos-, sesses, in a marked degree, the knack "of. : seizing upon the salient points in a:'-man's character, and cleverly. analysing, them for the benefit of his readers. • • Here and ; there, notably in the British studies, there are Evidences that the . author finds ifr; difficult to; forget that :he. is the editor of the "Dai}y News," and occasionally, not often,-his party -prejudices ' and predelictions strike a jarring note in essays characterised as a rule by-an effort, at least, tobe scrupulously just. One may differ fronr, this or that estimate-or judgment,' but the vigour and clarity of the essays compel admiration.

.{The. book • contains many. pleasantly, human : touches. As, for instance, in tho character of von Hindenburg: ■ i;. Hci is 'a "garrulous bid boy. Per•liaps it was that quality ft at inado .% him .distrusted, for there is . a pre- ' ;judice in favour, of the silent man,, , •who may, after .all, be silent because he is dul\\ Hindenburg is jrieither-silent nor dull. He has .something of tho-torrential gaiety • ■ ,'and physical enjoyment of his job that charasterises. Lord Fisher, and _ .'lio accepts tie* hero-worship of Ger- , many with the unconcealed delight' 'of a hungry boy w'lio finds- himself suddenly at the table of the Carlson or the Kitz. And he 'has' humour. "Somebody," be says, "re-. ... cently told. me to keep on march- . ing along the bank of a certain river,- straight on to St. Petersburg... It isn't, a bad idea, and if 'the llusisians would promise to keep on the other bank, perhaps I would do it." He takes all the advice, and foot- ; warmers, and dignities that are ;s'howered'on. him cheerfully, but ho is weary' of receiving remedios for gall stones;" Those , gall. t tones," ho says, "are; the. plague of my ..life.' Not a day passes without my getting sovereign ■remedies, for them Sent' to nie, whereas I. have nfevor 'Buifered from them in my life."Mr. Gardiner holds that Hindenburg's Campaign will' rank as ;' "a very considerable experiment, in strategy..'. . ;. ,'lt changed the theatre of war and destroyed tho monace to Cracow, and with it tlie threatened occupation of the. great province of Silesia, from which tho regourcos of tho enemy are largely drawn. In scope arid execution it . is the biggest thing the enemy has ; done in .tlie field, ! and if it has failed in its main object, it is because . .Germany has-.undertaken a .'itask which' broke Napoleon, and lias un-. dertaken it, as it were, with' one hand. " Hindenburg is not a Nar Jtoleon; but ho is a very able gen- • oral, and so long-as hs is in the field we niust look for bold and imaginative strategy." The essay on tho Crown Prince is full of good .things,' especially in reference to the pro-German'Sven Hedin's fatuous eulogies of the Kaiser's eldest son. After quoting from the Swedish writer's picture of his hero, "painted in all seriousness and with; tho reverence of the honest flunkey." Mr. .Gardiner remarks : "One does not know whether to wonder most at the naivete! of the Crown Prince or that of tho infatuated gentleman who so _ solemnly records these flatulent nothings. Biit they serve one purpose. They reveal the Crown Prince to us. !And the revelation reminds one of Charles the, Second's .remark about Prince George: "I've tried him drunk, and I'vo tried him sober, and there's nothing in him either way."

.Of'...the Kaiser,; Mr. Gardiner says: ■ "Ho, is afflicted with the colossal egotism .of 011^'who feels that the whole universe is revolving , round his. god-like personality. In. 1891 the Portuguese poet, Eca de Quiros, writing of the Kaiser, predicted that in the course of years "he may be sitting in his Berlin Schloss presiding over the destinies of Europe, or he may bo in the Hotel Metropolis in London," sadly unpacking from, his .exile s .handbag, the .battered double crown of Prussia and Germany." Discussing the de Quiros portrait as a whole Sir. Gardener now writes:— It _was a picturesque, forecast, based on a very just reading of the ■ young monarch. But it was by one fact. It' left the criminal out of the calculation. Twenty-four years later we can correct the forecast by tho light of crimes against ' 'Humanity which have no parallel in , civilised history. Had de Quiros penetrated to this dark region of the: Kaiser's character ho would not have limited his. destiny to a universal throne or a lodging at tho Metropole. Ho would have included in it the dock and tho scaffold." , Every page of Mr. Gardener's book is essentially readable. At fifteenpenco it is marvellously good value, this wellprinted, little, cloth-bound volume—with its excellent outline portraits by Clivo Gardener. (Review copy per Whitcomba and Tombs.) . LOWLAND; SCOTCH. The study of the evolution of the predominant form of tho English language from tho various local dialects would be of extreme interest, but our only present data for such study is' in the works'of our great prose writers and poets, which contain hone, or only fleeting, examples of tho great majority of the dialects. A living language is in a state of Jlux, and it is of great philological importance, as was pointed out by Guest long since, that tho various tributary dialects contributing to the' main stream of the English language should be stfidied and preserved. This has been doho for tho Lowland Scotch, as spoken in the Lower Strathearn district of Perthshire, by Sir James Wilson, K.C 5.1., in a volume published by the Oxford' University Press. " With'tho object of futuro comparisons in .view, tho spelling of all

examples Las been made phonotic, and tjjis, whilst it adds to the strangeness <-f its written appearance, adds greatly to'the value of the record. The form of words is compared with the form the same words take in English, in, a much fuller manner than was done by the poet Itamaay; vowol and other variation is noted in extensive admirable, examples; grammatical rules and idiomatio expressions are dealt with. There are useful* lists of common stock Mlords; a general 'dictionary; and a comprehensive list of proverbs, sayings, riddles, songs, etc. These, besides being illuminative of tho more technical parts, will appeal to every Scot, and make the book readable to . scholar and layman alike. It may be .said of it .as of Rori- - soii's'bonnet: ~ Ut wuznay dho baanut but dho liaid ut ttuz in ut, Qaard awbuddie speek oa. Eab Eoarisun'z baanut.