THE REMINISCENCES OF
LADY RANDOLPH CHURCHILL.
By Mrs. GEORGE CORNWALLIS WEST.
Demy 8vo. With Portraits. 15s. net.
The title of this delightful book gains point from its contents. Mrs. George Cornwallis West is unable to bring her recollections down to the immediate present, and so she brings them to a close when she ceased to be Lady Randolph Churchill. But that was only a few years ago, and it is doubtful whether any volume of reminiscences of Society has ever described the life of the interesting and distinguished people so close to our own day.
Lady Randolph Churchill's earliest experiences were in Paris during the last gay days of the Empire and the horrors of the Franco-German War. Then came her marriage and introduction to all that was best and highest in English Society. In 1876 Lord and Lady Randolph accompanied the Duke of Marlborough to Dublin, and her account of life at the Viceregal Court is full of entertainment. Then come recollections of political society in London, of the formation of the Primrose League, and anecdotes of well-known politicians, such as Mr. Balfour, Sir William Harcourt, Mr. Chamberlain, and others.
Lady Randolph has visited the Royal Family both at Windsor and at Sandringham. She has also many interesting glimpses to give of Continental Society, including an audience of the Czar in Russia, Court functions at Berlin, a dinner-party with Bismarck, a friendship with General Boulanger. Such are some of the varied items that catch the eye as one turns over the pages. They are samples from a mine of well-chosen topics, handled with tact, courage and grace.
PEEP-IN-THE-WORLD.
A Story for Children.
By Mrs. F. E. CRICHTON.
Illustrated. Crown 8vo. 3s. 6d.
The author of this charming tale ought to take rank with such writers as Mrs. Molesworth in the category of childhood's literature. The story tells of a little girl who visits her uncle in Germany and spends a year in an old castle on the borders of a forest. There she makes friends with a dwarf cobbler, who lives alone in a hut in the forest, and knows the speech of animals and birds. Knut, the cobbler, is something of a hermit and a misanthrope, but he is conquered by Peep-in-the-World, whom he eventually admits to the League of Forest Friends.
