Smaranda, by the late Lord Thomson of Cardington, when it
was published first in 1926, gave promise of a new writer who should rank with the most brilliant of to-day. The fulfilment of that promise has been cut short, and the intro- duction by Mr. Ramsay MacDonald to the new edition gives some idea of what the loss has meant to the friends of the author. The sketches and stories in the book make this even clearer, for they all bear- the mark of a very human yet exceptional personality, of a wide interest in and knowledge of both the art and the daily life of many countries, all com- bined with a lightness of touch which does not find its most characteristic field in ‘politics. In the journal of Brigadier- General there. i$ amore than trace. of_autobiagraphY with a touch of burlesque which not every man can apply to the subject. Smaranda is thus not only a work of art, but a valuable memoir of the man who wrote it.
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