NOTABLE BOOKS
HESKETH PRICHARD, D.S.O., M.C. : A Mermir. By Eric Parker. (T. Fisher Unwin. l5s.) HESKETII PRICHARD was a perfect example of an English patrician. He stood six feet four inches high, and every muscle in his body was trained by, and subordinated to, a mind that was eager and proud. His fine nature was not debilitated by a life of wage-earning slavery, and the dependence and timidity of mind consequent upon such a position in our acquisitive society. Fortune gave him opportunity for culture, dignity, and self-assertion ; and he made the most of it. At an early age his independent character marked him out, and by the time he was twenty-two he had already made a reputation as a cricketer, an explorer and big game hunter. The qualities demanded by these last two pursuits are certainly not commonly found in irresponsible youth ; but foresight, staying power, ability to lead men, were already strongly marked in this boy—for he was little more. During a subsequent expedition through Labrador the lives of the party often depended upon his gun, but he never failed to keep up the food supply, though the conditions for obtaining it were severe. At the same time lie was making a name as a writer of romances : everyone remembers his Don Q stories and books of travel. He was first, however, a mighty gunman. It was the great passion of his life ; and when the War came, his zeal—one might say genius—combined with his large experience as a hunter, marked him out to play a large part. He went out to France as a journalist, but within six months he had forced the fighting Command to recognize his research work on sniping with the telescope rifle. Disappointments and setbacks followed, for conserva- tive G.H.Q. tried its best to strangle him with red tape. But his determined spirit won, and soon he was the recognized master mind of the science—and, too, the art—of sharp- shooting in France. But the strain was too much, and lie came home in 1918, broken. He lingered on bravely for four years, dying in June, 1922. Mr. Eric Parker has modestly called his book a memoir ; it is really an ably written Life.
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