If the publisher of About It And About had told me on the wrapper that Mr. D. Willoughby has an excellent fund of literary reminiscence, on which he draws for the modelling of a very pretty epigrammatical style, I should, after reading the book, have agreed with him heartily. What Mr. T. Fisher Unwin does say about these short essays, which embrace most of the subjects on which people have violent opinions, is that the author's "point of view is that of the natural historian making an unprejudiced examination." An unprejudiced man, I take it, is a man whose sentiments are the same as mine, and I happen to disagree with Mr. Willoughby as profoundly as possible on several of the themes he has chosen. On fox-hunting, for instance, which he considers a more decadent sport than bull-fighting; and on Ulster, which he attacks bitterly by comparison with the rest of Ireland, for cherishing antiquated political animosities and talking about the Battle of the Boyne. But will Mr. Willoughby not have been hearing of "the curse of Cromwell"? Let us rather agree to be impatient with Yorkshire for her absurd tranquillity with regard to William the First. I repeat that Mr. Willoughby has a very clever style, but, bless his heart, he is as bigoted as I am myself.
Occupant of Pew. "Entirely self-made. Originally a waiter, as you can see."