Through Armenia on Horseback. By Rev. Geo. Hepworth. (Isbister and
Co. 6s.)—An American clergyman, despatched by an American newspaper proprietor and the Sultan, of Turkey himself to inquire into the Armenian question, hardly offers a guarantee of unbiassed opinion ; nevertheless, one must admit that whatever Mr. Hepworth's shortcomings may be in the matter of ferreting out the truth, his impartiality and honesty of purpose are beyond all ques- tion. If he did not succeed in arriving at the true history of the Armenian troubles and the real condition of that unhappy people, it was certainly through no fault of his own. And for all one can tell to the contrary, his version of the miserable tale may be an absolutely accurate one ; it is, at least, an intelligible and fairly reasonable one, and only the inevitable suspicion with which one cannot help regarding every elucidation of that black mystery, pre- vents one from cheerfully accepting it on the spot. In other respects one may congratulate the author on having written a very readable and interesting book on a well-worn subject. He has nothing very new to say, but what he does say is bright and enter- taining, and bears the obvious imprint of being a perfectly frank expression of genuine belief.
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