To vaunt the new and concluding volume of the series as more charming than its predecessors would be as absurd as it would be disingenuous. It may, however, be mentioned that the value of “The Spirit of the People” is peculiar. England, both as regards life in the metropolis and rural districts, has been subjected to the considerations of writers of almost every nationality. The English spirit has been diagnosed and analysed often enough. What makes Mr. Hueffer’s new book so interesting is that it is written by an Englishman in one sense; yet, in another sense, scarcely an Englishman. The author’s training has not been that of the average youth of the Established Church; yet the book is instinct with reverence and affection for that Church. Unquestionably the reader will find the many pages devoted to the religious aspect of the English spirit highly instructive; though, in lighter vein, when dealing with Englishmen’s sense of the proprieties, of their devotion to sports, and their hundred other peculiarities, the author is no less engaging. From these remarks it will be judged that “The Spirit of the People” makes a wide appeal; its genial bonhomie and tolerance should ensure a favourable hearing.
Thomas Hood: His Life and Times. By Walter Jerrold. Illustrated. Demy 8vo.
16s. net.
Though over sixty years have now elapsed since the death of Thomas Hood, it is not a little strange that only one attempt has been made to tell the story of his life with any fulness. The fate of his contemporaries, and indeed many successors, has not been Thomas Hood’s: he is still regarded as a writer of comic verse that is above all competitors; his share in the history of modern letters cannot be minimised; and his personality was unusually attractive and lovable. Yet the “Memorials of Thomas Hood,” prepared by his son and daughter, and published in 1860, re-issued ten years later with some excisions and with but few new features, is the only sustained chronicle to which hitherto the enquirer has been able to resort. Even in the later edition the first thirty-five years of Hood’s short life were dismissed in sixty-seven pages, as against 400 pages devoted to his last eleven years, while much that is inaccurate is to be noticed throughout those earlier pages. It was, therefore, a duty incumbent upon the Republic of Letters that some one, well equipped, should take up the task of writing a complete biography; that Mr. Walter Jerrold was well qualified for the undertaking has already been made sufficiently evident. The book is beautifully produced, with suitable illustrations, including coloured plates and a photogravure plate.
“That a grandson of Douglas Jerrold should write a ‘Life’ of Thomas Hood is, in the nature of things, eminently fitting and commendable; everyone who is conservative enough to enjoy the perpetuation of old associations will appreciate the propriety. And all those who like to see good sound work properly recognised will be glad that Mr. Walter Jerrold should have been given this opportunity of publishing what will certainly remain to be regarded as the best-informed, most painstaking, and most accurate biography of Hood—the book to be consulted upon all questions of fact and date.”—The Bookman.
The Chase of the Wild Red Deer. By Charles Palk Collyns. With coloured frontispiece.
5s. net.
A new edition of Dr. Collyns’ classic needs no apology, for the time has surely come when the book should be published at a price that enables all lovers of sporting literature to number it among their possessions. The present volume includes a preface by the Hon. L. J. Bathurst, and a coloured frontispiece by Mr. Stuart.
A Guide to the Foxhounds and Staghounds of England. Being a new edition of the original book by “Gelert,” published 1849. Demy 8vo.
3s. 6d.