Few careers of this age have been so unexpected, few
suc- cesses so well deserved, as those of Professor Thomas Okey. Many a man born in poverty has conquered a position in business, in politics, in the world of Letters. To begin as a basket-maker in Spitalfields, a London East End slum as it was seventy years ago, and to end as the holder of a Chair in Italian at Cambridge, is a very different matter from writing books or speaking on party platforms or making a business pay. The exact study of languages, to which Profes- sor Okey devoted himself from early years, when he earned very small wages, demands an intellectual concentration rare in the self-educated. Anyone who was privileged to travel with the Art Workers' Guild in Italy or Spain under Mr. Okey's guidance will recollect with admiring wonder his readiness of speech in all Continental tongues. In his Basketful of Memories, as he calls his "autobiographical sketch" (Dent, Os.), he recounts with humour and a mellow tolerance the steps in his pilgrim's progress. There are many delightful stories, one of G. B. S. revered by Italian waiters as a deeply religious man under a solemn vow (because he would not eat meat) ; another of a Colonel in Kent who enquired, when Mr. Okey wanted to rent a house from him : " Is he a Churchman ?
Is he a Conservative ? " A pleasant, gossipy little book. * * * *
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