FICTION.
THE ADVENTURES OF DR. WHITTY.* Is' anyone wants a cheerful book to take away with him on his Whitsuntide holidays, he cannot do better than buy or borrow The Adventures of Dr. Whitty. The ingenious and resourceful doctor is only one of the successive reincarnations of "J. J.," of whom we have already had experience in the hero of " General John Regan," but the change of profession affords opportunities for fresh variations which Canon Hannay never fails to exploit, and only the most insatiable lover of novelty will complain of the temperamental resemblance of the doctor and the curate. Besides, there are differences between them, for while "J. j." was not infrequently the victim of his own exuberant individualism,Dr. Whitty's methods are on the whole
more conciliatory, and his popularity is seldom impaired. It is true that his relations with the Ballintra branch of the League were seriously strained by his successfully imposing on the ignorance of the town band to the extent of inducing them to learn " God Save the King," and play it in the presence of a Unionist peer in the belief that it was an old Irish air called "The Song of King Malachi." But then he secured a handsome donation from Lord Ailing- ton to the sadly depleted funds of the band, and when he was summoned to give an explanation before the Com- mittee of the League he was able, in virtue of his command of medical science and his intimate knowledge of the past history of the village tyrants, to threaten such terrific reprisals that criticism collapsed on the spot. On another occasion he
quelled a riot, when bloodshed was imminent, armed solely with a camera, by an adroit appeal to the vanity of the opposing forces. It is true that his elaborate preparations to satisfy the curiosity of a German savant were frustrated by a confusion between the terms " etymologist " and "entomologist," but no harm was done, and the fees exacted by the aged representatives of the Irish-speaking section of the community for their attend- ance were paid by his friend Colonel Beresford, who fills a role somewhat comparable to that of Major Kent in the "J. j." cycle. This, moreover, was only poetic justice, as Colonel Beresford was responsible for the confusion. Dr. Whitty's masterly handling of a difficult situation is perhaps best shown in the episode of Mrs. Challoner's public meeting, which he organized on the assumption that Mrs. Challoner was a suffragist, whereas she was a thoroughgoing "anti." With infinite pains Dr. Whitty bad whipped up an audience, small in numbers, but representative of all classes and both creeds, only to hear the doctrines tentatively enunciated by the priest and the rector indignantly repudiated by the chief speaker :- " Her speech lasted for more than half an hour. She repeated with contemptuous emphasis a large number of witticisms which had appeared in comic papers. She quoted, though without reference to the original documents, a good many articles from London daily papers. She explained that she was a leading member of an organization of right-minded women pledged to resist to the uttermost the demands of infatuated members of their sex. She produced at last a copy of a petition to Parliament. It asked, so she informed her audience, that the suffrage should never, under any pressure, be granted to women. `I do not suppese,' she said, that more than one or two of those present will sign it.' She glanced, as sho spoke, at her own maid, who had signed twice before, but I mean to take it round the town to-morrow myself and obtain the signatures of those who have had the good sense not to attend this meeting.' She sat down. Father Henaghan, a little redder in the face than usual, but with a twinkle in his eye, called upon Dr. Whitty to propose a vote of thanks to Mrs. Challoner. The doctor rose without exhibiting any very obvious embarrassment. 'Reverend chairman, ladies, and gentlemen,' he said, came here to-night a convinced and deter- mined supporter of Woman's Suffrage. So did the Rev. Mr.
Jackson, so did Father Henaghan—' did not,' exclaimed the priest. Mr. Jackson, who seemed a good deal bewildered, shook his head. You did,' said the doctor, both of you. And there's no use your denying it, because you committed yourselves in the speeches you made. But it's open to you, as it is to me, to change your views ; and I may say that, after listening to the extraordinarily powerful and convincing speech just made by Mrs. Challoner, I have changed • Th. Adventures of Dr. Whitty. By Q. A. Birmingham. London : Methuen sulet-Co. [Os.] mine. The ladies who have attended the meeting have also, I feel certain, changed theirs. That is the best compliment we can pay Mrs. Challoner to-night, and by way of showing that it's not a mere empty form of words, I propose that everyone here signs the petition which has been laid on the table before the chairman.' Ho sat down. Father Henaghan rose at once. Ladies,' he said, get each one of you step forward and sign the petition, and let nobody leave the room till that's done.' I don't want people to sign against their will,' said Mrs. Challonor. 'If there's any woman here who sincerely believes—' There isn't,' said Father Henaghan. 'There is not,' said the doctor with emphasis. 'I know them all well, and there isn't one that sincerely believes votes would be the slightest use to her, if she had them given out free by the stone, the same as the Congested Districts Board would give potatoes.' The petition was signed. Mrs. Challoner, who went back to London early in November, parted with Dr. Whitty on terms of the warmest friendship. She afterwards spoke of him as a singularly open-minded man, one of the very few who are ready to surrender an opinion when it is clearly shown to be wrong."
" The Interpreters" is a deliciously absurd story of the doctor's efforts to ascertain the nationality of a shipwrecked sailor by mobilizing the linguistic accomplishments of the neighbour- hood, when in reality the man was an outlawed native who was shamming dumbness to evade detection. But for this and other examples of Dr. Whitty's resourcefulness we must refer our readers to the book itself. Apart from the essential humour of the situations, it is enlivened as usual by a number of illuminating digressions on the vagaries of the Irish character and seasoned by some characteristic obiter dicta, of which we may quote one, "All scientific men eat largely," in illustration of their habitually audacious tone.
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