PLEASURE AND POLITICS IN 1769

New Zealand Listener, Volume 1, Issue 8, 18 August 1939, Page 37

PLEASURE AND POLITICS IN 1769

LOST BIRTHRIGHT. By Jack Lindsay. Methuen & Co. Ltd., London. 533 pp. This is the story of a gay young man, who, with some dissolute companions, corrupts his earnest brother while, in the background, workers are supporting John Wilkes in his struggle for Parliamentary reform. The earnest brother shakes off the spell and wins love and contentment; gay brother succumbs to his environment. But Wilkes wins political liberties, and a good time is had by all. It is a melodramatic walkabout with heiresses most: beautiful, murder most foul, wine, riots, and politics, but the author gives a satisfactory description of eighteenth century life. With his ability as a novelist he infuses a pleasant taste into the concoction; and he knows, as a good historian, that dregs give strong flavour. Coarseness veiled with wit seems relevant to a period when men had to fight bitterly for their rights, and when poor people lived in astounding squalor. There is much detail on the canvas, but the picture is striking and is never a jumble. Perhaps some of the characters are wanton, certainly few of them are nice, but if they ever did live in the flesh they are reborn with renewed vigour in this novel. And it is fair to the author to say that his method of presenting history will make people interested in it in spite of themselves or their preconceived judgments.