640 '- Rez'ieius of Books man who played so great a part in two such revokitions is worthy of a detailed biography. If one essays the task of criticizing Mr. Reid one must add that his work is only moderately well done. He lacks conciseness and some- times lucidity; his matter is not always well arranged, not always per- tinent, not always quite accurate. He makes too great a hero of Durham and resents too obviously any unfavorable criticism by his contempo- raries. Mr. Reid himself naively admits that Durham " was not in- fallible " (H. 313). But because Greville tells some stories about Durham not free from malice, Mr. Reid calls him an " idle eaves-drop- per " (II. 371). Others besides Greville tell similar stories. Creevey, for instance, is piquant on Durham, and calls him " King Jog " because, having £80,000 a year, he said with assumed moderation that £40,000 was a moderate income which one " might jog on with ". In spite of Mr. Reid, Durham was something less than sublime. Together with his generous and honest zeal for good government we find a love of display, an arrogant hauteur, and an impatience of contradiction at times so extravagant as to make his sanity seem doubtful. None the less was he a noble character. One story of Mr. Reid's would make all generous spirits love Durham in spite of his faults : He was dining one night at Lambton Castle with the Countess, and the only other persons in the room were the servants. He spoke un- guardedly across the table to his wife, and swept aside her remarks with brusqueness. When the men withdrew she, the gentlest of women, remonstrated. Instantly, Durham, who had not realised the force of his words until that moment, sprang to his feet, rang the bell, and — fearful that his words had already been reported — ordered the whole of the household into the room. He told the astonished servants that he had been momentarily betrayed into hard and unjust words, declared that he was sorry for the fact, and assured them there was one thing they must remember, which was that, if he ever contradicted the Countess again, he had put himself into the wrong, and she was always right. Then, turning to his wife, he apologised to her in their presence and dismissed them. (II. 373.) Such was Durham, irritable and impulsive, but above all, honest, courageous, and never sparing himself to carry out that to which his sense of duty called him. George M. Wrong. Letters and Journals of Samuel Gridlcy Hoice. Edited by his daughter Laura E. Richards. Volume I. The Greek Revo- littion. With Notes and a Preface by F. B. Sanborn. (Bos- ton: Dana Estes and Company: London: John Lane. 1906. Pp. xix, 419.) In this volume we have the first installment of the definitive life of Dr. Howe. The editor has done her work well— so well that one could wish more from her own hand. The story of her father's early life she
