These Were the Puffins
ONE of the two Montagu-Puffins who was worth anything speak of the males only) the gallant Crimean major who co bined the characteristics of Captain Tobias Shandy and Colon Newcome, remarked to his young interlocutor, Mr. Vulliamr "My great-grandmother, sir, was a whore." He was a truthf gentleman, and accurately described the genesis of -the famil This lady's son—who his father was could never be decid though family pride let it be whispered that it was the notoriou Duke of Cumberland—was adopted by a kindly alderman a apprenticed to a hatter. In this trade both he and his acquired great fame and a very considerable fortune, and thtr launched the Puffins on a career of Victorian gentility. Th family produced another courtesan, who, through the kindnes of Primly, further helped to establish the family as county fo but, alas, they never rose further than an M.P. and a fox hunting squire, unless you care to throw in a Dean. The onl worthy human beings, besides the Major, whom they produce were a country doctor and a charmingly intelligent spinste The promise of the Great Puffin was never fulfilled. He had hi statue in the borough which he enriched with schools and con veniences, but the family as a whole dwindled into ordin middle-class respectability (or otherwise), and has died out the male line. One of the girls, Mr. Vulliamy regrets to rem married a journalist. The trouble was that most of them wet endowed with insentience and stupidity. The Great Puffin him- self was of monumental stupidity ; he was only very rich. The book, then, is a sociological study of the Victorian period or rather of a selected thread of Victorianism, and there is a g deal of historical research behind it. The question one asks one self is : How far is it a true picture? Were the Victorians reap like that? Well, the answer would seem to be that by selectin just one unrepresentative thread, Mr. Vulliamy has given picture which is, to say the least of it, Unbalanced. The virtu of such a study would lie in its being' a good, sound generalisa tion which would tell us apmething about the good points of th Victorians as well as about their follies. The " blurb " tells that it is a satire which runs occasionally to rollicking faro what we would like lo know is : What is it exactly that is beat satirised? Is it just a belated attempt to " debunk " the Vic torians? If so, what is the purpose of the debunking? If th book were all farce, this question would not arise : but it satire and the manner is satirical.
Yet even here so many doubts arise. For the manner is, analysis, rather that of solemn farce than of satire, and Mr Vulliamy keeps it up very well on the whole. But there chinks in the mask, for now and again Mr. Vulliamy allows him to show through, and, confessedly losing patience, declares to " rot " and " bosh " matter which in the main he treats with delightful portentous seriousness. But again, What for? Mr. Belloc did the same kind of thing in his ever-glorl biography of Emmanuel Burden, we knew exactly where were and what it was all about. All we can gather or Vulliamy's attitude is that he dislikes fox-hunting, ov
shooting and snobbery and is securely anti-clerical ; and these moments of criticism do not occur very often. It must be con- fessed that as enlightenment or social criticism the work is dis- appointing.
But if one can regard the book purely as entertainment, it can be claimed that it is a success, in spite of an occasional labouring of the point. It is very well arranged and it hangs together with perfect consistency. Some of the details are delicious, and Mrs. Dimble, the family scandal, never fails to provide amusement while her well-timed irruptions last. A number of the characters are very much alive, and their differ- ences and their interplay are well brought out, while now and again the fun is uproarious. The idea is first-rate, the execution in many ways admirable, the mock-style in the main well sus- tained: it is the motive, the direction, the intention which are dubious or lacking ; and it is this gap which seriously reduces the value of a work which in some of its technical excellences is
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