BOOKS OF THE DAY

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 263, 31 July 1920, Page 11

BOOKS OF THE DAY

, Th'e ; Turks".'in Egrope', j.Fora-"sick man" the Turk can still, . .oil. occasion, be astonishingly vigorous, "and the partition of his European possessions is more, easily arranged in coun : cil, and on.paper, than it is likdy to bu. ..actually carried, out. Mr. W. .E. D. Allen;.the-author of "Tho Turk* in ; . Europe: A Sketch Study" (John: Murray; -. per Whitcombo and-Tombs), provides acompact and sufficiently -detailed survey. of Turkish history so far as Europe is concorned 1 from the thirteenth century • 'C to 'the present day." -\ The oarlier Sultans/ Orkhan.'Murnd.'tho. First; Bayjfflid I,'and others under whose rubj'the . Osmanli' subjugated the somUsavago Bul- .. .fiars' and. Serbs, wero.,for, the. inost part . able ; military,, commanders;, a "fighting-man," the Turkish soldier has always ; meritod :the laudatory term "fust- ,.-. class" which Mr,\ Eudynrd. Kipling ap- : ■plied to his Mohammedan cousin-of the '■ Sudan, our. old friend "Fuzzy--Wiizz." Christian'knights, princes, and kings ©s-, : sayed time after time the task' of' expel-' ling the sons of Islam from Europe, .one of the .-.most determined .attempts being that headed by Sigismund of Luxemburg, son of the Emperor Charles IV of Ger-. many. Sigismund, who had succeeded ■to tie Hungarian throne,, regarded, and - not without, reason, the Turkish -, occupa- •■■ tiou of Danube towns by -the Turk-asa-menacotohis. rule, and with an army of 100,000 men, 'his o'nterjrisa duly blessed by tho Pope and .supported by' soldiers'of fortune "from'' all , over■ Europe, set forth in the summer of . 139G, to expel the Moslem from Southeastern 'Europe. He, captured'Widdin nnd Sistova, but at Nikopol, Sultan Bayazid, who, although "the first Snl- . .ian -to indulge in 6trong drink," was a clever strategist, simply wiped, out -the" allied' ■ Westerners, the ..' latter. ■ being ■routed, after only three hours'-fighting. ■Bayazid later on himself experienced the. pangs'of-"defeat, for he' foil a victim to the furious, onslaught of- tho ■ .Tartars-led by. the great -Timur,'- arid died-'in captivity. Mr. Allen -traces •Turkish history, o, history rsplete with ' eo many dramatic, and.romantic incidents, down to the close of the eighteenth century, his .record then becoming much more detailed. His.account of the beginnings of Russian,nnd British intor- • ests.in Turkey, of the Crimean War, and of the -indirect .nffeflt upon the Porte and. its power'in Europe of the decline of Austria after Sadowa, will-be most valuable to the student of general European history. ■In his final chapter Mr. Allen'traces the. growth of Balkan Nationalism and deals;with the "insidious diplomacy, directed from Berlin, which had German .dominance at Constantinople and through'.-Asia Minor to the ' Persian Gulf. ns its' objective. He gives ' an excellent account/of the Balkan wars of .1912-13, and of the selfish dinlomatio . ''deals''-, at Bucharest, still. to-day' productive of so much evil result in,-the '.Near East. Whilst " scarcely, to' bo classed as a Turkoph'il the'author evi- . dently has a. hurh opinion of the Turkish peasants. Had not Turkish officialdom been so corrupt, so grossly ineffi•cient, so blind to the'general trend of European political .progress, the Turk would not be in the parlous state lie '.Is in fxwlayl 'Mr. Allen's book gives, lis, in small compass, a most inter- ■ ■ esting '.and ;to -the student a very vnlu- ■•' able .summary of.; Turkish' history. The ' T>ook contains two' very, 'useful' maps, one showing the expansidn of Turkish power; (I.ILMBS3), .'the other,. the''.'. decline of Turkish power (NISiMfM). The ethnological divisions on .these maps are particularly useful to the student . of . Eastern European l history. (Pricb 12s. " 6d.)

The British National Trust. ■ ' f ln Nation's Heritage" (Allen : and Ijnwin}. Canon H. D. Rawnsley' gives an 'interesting description of. visits, paid to several possessions, in tho' West of' England, of the British .National. Trust,- which has gradually acquired; and is still regularly and steadily acquiring, many beautiful. and historically, famous ■ buildings; together with various' picturesque-: woods and beauty 'spots •.generally,' 1 Amongst other places described in a book which makes ' v liber" simply 1 long for a certain amonint of wealth and leisure,-. phis a motor-oar and somo. pleasant; English. summer weather, aro the' famous Leigh Woods near Bristol, the ancient ■ college at Westbury, once a Benedictine i Priory;, the famoud Cheddar Gorge, bolove<r of -English artists; the'grim old< headland at Tintagel, in the land 'of "Tre, Poland Pen" ; Coloridge cottage, at Nether, Storey, where the poet-philos-> opher entertained Such literary lights of his day as Charles Lamb, William and Dorothy Wordsworth,' and' Elia's' bosom-l friencl Charles Lloyd, and what las been I called "the:pride of Zummerzet," tho stately- old Elizabethan mansion of BarTington Court. An unfortunate omission, so, at. least New Zealand readers may. consider, an an ! otherwise most interestipg book, is the lack of any; information as'to .how this National I'rußt, which appears to : be doing such excel-lent-work in the Old Country, is'financed and managed. (Price, 7s, Gd.) "Running Wild." • A- /•;/ Sir. Bertram Smith,', author of"RunJiing'Wild" (Simpkin; Marshall and'Co,, por Australasian ' Publishing Coy., per Whifcombe 'and Tombs\ waa -'a young Scotsman who for some was 'a frequent contributor .to "Punch." tho ''Manchester Guardian" and other periodicals, his speciality being short, humorous essays on school. life, sporting and rural subjects.. He was an ardent devotee of "caravanning" travelling ovei most parts of England and. Scotland in his'own caravan, and,delighting im.wanderings'of a style l which would have ap- , pealed to "George Borrow; "Gipsying" was quite a passion with him. TJjder -tho title "Running Wild" havo been"collected a number of essays contributed to "Country. Life" and other periodicals. Tor the most -part they, deal with boy • lifo and the youthful love of adventure. They display a, quiet whimsical humour and a keen appreciation of the beauties ■of-Nature, and are all very loadable. Smith died of consumption at, the early age of 41.' He waa engaged in commercial pursuits in Liverpool, and, as Mr. Ward Muir nays in his introduction to a vory original and pleasant little book, was probably the first business man .to .combine Caravanning,and stock-broking. (Price, 75., 6d.) ,