My Summer in London. By-James Milne. (T. Werner Laurie. 6s.
net.)—Mr. Milne adds, by way of a sub-title, " With Excursions in Memory Elsewhere among People and Places." The root idea of the book is the action of a man who gives up the country house from which he was accustomed to come up to his work in London, and fixes himself in London itself. We see here an account of what such a man gains and what he loses. The question of preference between the urban and the suburban house is not to be settled ; it. depends largely upon circumstances ; if, for instance, a. man's hours in town have to be so long that for half the year he practically never sees the surroundings of his dwelling, the urban dwelling seems the better. Anyhow, the question has given Mr. Milne a convenient peg for reflections and memories. The litter are peculiarly welcome ; and they are put together in a very kindly and catholic temper. Among the persons to whom we are intro- duced are Sir Andrew Clarke (who did so much to consolidate the Malayan States), W. E. Gladstone (to whose oratory a fitting tribute is paid), Mr. Chamberlain, Prebendary Rogers (who explains the " Hang Theology " epithet), Sir Henry Hawkins, Sir George Grey (of New Zealand and South Africa), and not a few others. We must own to something like amazement when Mr. Milne hints that to most people "Boswell's Johnson" is a book talked about rather than read. Surely it is one of the books which one can take down and read at any time. It is quite true, however, that women, as a rule, do not care about it.
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