LABBY
By Hesketh Pearson
No life of Labouchere—gambler. amorist, diplomat, duellist, journalist, politician—eould be dull even if it were indifferently'' written. Actually Mr. Hesketh Pearson's volume (Hamish Hamilton, 10s. 6d.) is very competently written, with perhaps here and there a slight excess of sprightliness which. among other things, sometimes leaves one uncertain whether Mr. Pearson is quoting Labby verbatim, or putting appropriate sentiments into his mouth. The book is not intended to take the place of Mr. Algar Thorold's standard biography of his uncle, but it will instruct and entertain many whom the approach to that rather massive volume intimidates. Labby was not a typical Victorian, but he was typical of a Victorian type, and a later generation, which thinks of him primarily or exclusively of the man who made Truth, made it what it was and made it what it could never be again, has little conception of the diversity of his gifts and experiences. He was a cynic and a sceptic, but his war on charlatanism came from something very like principle and-the fact that he wanted- nothing fot himself (he did in the end get a Privy Councillorship—the Queen flatly vetoed his elevation to office) made him one of the most formidable free-lances the House of Commons has ever known. He went through the siege of Paris in 1870 as war-correspondent for the Daily News, he brought the Pigott forgeries in The Times to light, he conducted his own defence successfully in a charge of criminal libel in respect of his attacks in Truth on Mr. -Lawson ow Levy) of the Daily Telegraph, and he took a notable part in the crass-examination of Cecil Rhodes as member of the Jameson Raid Committee. The resuscitation of Labby was -a task well worth undertaking, and Mr. Hesketh Pearson has turned out as lively a volume as the brillianee-and wit and versatility of his subject demand.
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