16 JANUARY 1915, Page 24

We suppose that no one can have rend Wordeworth's noble

sonnet on Toussaint l'Ouverture without wishing to know more about its hero, whose

"Friends are exultation., agonies,

And love, and man's unconquerable mind." The story of his meteoric career is ably narrated in The French Revolution in San Domingo, by T. Lothrop Stoddard (Houghton Mifflin Company, 8s. 6d. net). It is disappoint. ing to learn that Toussaint's personality still remains obscure. "Extremely little first-clues material exists, and practically everything written about him is of such doubt- ful value that his figure seems destined to remain for ever shrouded in the haze of legend and tradition." Dr. Stoddard has made the most of the extant documents, and his book is a trustworthy guide through an obscure byway of history.