304 A British Officer prince of staff officers, Major-general Haig — and of his Intelligence Officer, Major Lawrence. Aided by these special advantages and with the gifts of a shrewd perception and an appreciation of the value of details in a military narrative, he has produced a book which, while attractive to the general reader, cannot be disregarded by either the military student or the historian. An excellent series of maps, based in many cases on military sketches made on the ground, adds much to the value of this work, and although Mr. Goldman has not escaped the influence of the hero-worship inevitable in the biographist, his work is not likely to be rivalled as a fair ac- count of the achievements of the British cavalry commander during the first year of the South African War. But except from Mr. Goldman's book, not much valuable ore can be delved from this particular corner of the mine of campaigning literature. Some bright color and an appreciation of the light in which Lord Roberts's victories appeared to onlookers may, however, be gathered from Mr. Prevost Battersby's In the Weh of a IVar,^ which carries the story down to the occupation of Pretoria. The lessons, however, deduced by Mr. Battersby from his observations, as for instance that cavalry should carry no other weapon than the rifle, are not to be commended to soldiers. For vivid journalistic sketches of daily life in South Africa during the latter part of the ■ war, a reader cannot do better than turn to Unofficial Dispatches by Edgar Wallace,^ the Daily Mail correspondent, who depicts with a faithful pen, not so much the actual fighting, but the passions, words, and appearance of the people who fought and of those who looked on. It throws much light on the eft'ect of prolonged civil war on combatants and civilians. With Seven Generals in the Boer War, by Colonel Pollock,^ a Reserve officer, who was allowed to act as one of the Times correspondents, may also be glanced at, as a record of facts noted by the trained eye of the soldier who has studied his profession. Colonel Pollock's book may be regarded therefore as lying half-wa- between the journalistic and the pro- fessional classes of literature. At this half-way house should perhaps also be placed the diaries and records of the volunteers and irregulars who played such a gallant part in the war. With Rimington, by March Phillipps;* A Subaltern's Letters to his Wifef The Record of the Mounted ' H. F. P. Battersby, /». Ihc Web of a War (London, 1900). ^ London, 1901". ' London, 1900.
- London, 1901.
'By Reginald Rankin, London, 1901.
