SOME BOOKS OF THE WEEK.
[Notice in this column does not necessarily preclude subsequent review.]
There are learned and expensive books about Russia, but for those who cannot or will not read them it is well that there should now be light and cheap volumes to give even superficial accounts. Mr. Brayley Hodgetts in his Glorious Russia (Arrowsmith, ls. net, ls. 6d. cloth), provides a compre hensive and sympathetic sketch of the past, present, and future of the Tsar's Empire. It has no pretension to scholar- ship or distinction of writing, but the author has lived in Russia, and has a true affection for the Russians. He corrects the most obvious and widely spread misconceptions, and shows how the Slav nature and culture have far more natural sympathy with English than with Teutonic ideas, though they differ from both. "Russia is the most democratic of countlies " ; the "idea that it is the duty of the Russian gentleman to serve in some capacity or other still prevails " ; " Socialism in various forms . . . has been tried, found wanting, and is in course of being abolished, seeing that it has been found to be incompatible with liberty "—these are typical generalities from his chapters on social conditions, and Mr. Hodgetts supports them by facts and reason.
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