"BRITISH BATTLES OF DESTINY."

Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 18942, 5 March 1927, Page 13

"BRITISH BATTLES OF DESTINY."

AN AUTHOR'S "LITERARY STUFFING." TO THE EDITOB OF THE PRESS. Sir—While one naturally dislikes arguing with a critic as to the quality of one's own writing, I feel that I may fairly offer your readers some other opinions on my recent book, "British Battles of Destiny," if only in fairness to my publishers, whom your critic wonders to find commissioning nic to writo such a book. Your critic says: "... has not managed tho purely technical side of writing nearly as well ai in some of his other books": tho "Now Statesman" says: "... having satisfied ourselves that it is worthy of its author's reputation." To your reviewer's remark thnt "he has neither the culture, the power, tho imagination," etc., for such a work, perhaps because the size of it has "knocked the litorary stuffing out of him. ..." I venture to'quote from reviews in journals which even your critic may admit stand high in reviewing ability. "The Observer," London: " . . . Tersely and graphically he describes-. . . Waterloo has seldom been well described. The best impression the present reviewer can recall is in 'Thei Dynasts.' Mr Boyd Cable's may very fairly be called the second." (I consider this comparison ono of the highest compliments ever paid to my "literary stuffing.") h i, "The Scotsman,' Edinburgh. .• . lie describes succinctly, and with studious regard for historical detail, points rut their results, and draws appropriate conclusions The book is carefully written, lucid in exposition ... "The Age," Melbourne: "... Mr Cable hns the instinct for strategic points no* onlv in history, but m particular battles'. His descriptions are concise, adequate, and pictorial ... a highly creditable ]>ee of work, and r h. well recommended. ... T spare vonr readers the full reviews from these' and other journals (of which vours is the first even slightly adverse), i.ut, since extracts may mislead, I enclose some complete, so that you may judge if my extract» arc reasonable on tiio points mentioned. And if my publishers were wrong in commissioning wc, so were editors or serious magazines who accepted and published some chapters, and the Bnt's'l Broadcasting Company, who reM.estcl me to two chapters "to all stations'' in London. January li'h, 10-<-IMr Cable quotes qu:tc fairly from the "Observer" and Age' the two papers whose notices he encloses in fu 1 ■-and we are sure also from each ot the other jimma's. It i 3 proper also to admit that the prais _of the OhM , r vrr" is vory high praise uulcc*!. But even if we couid agree that he ha'- written the second best account of" nterloo, ; nM not )-ove. or even strongly that ho has the culture, power, ;hul inmcrination for so stupendous a t:i:■!; as his publishers assigned lnin. We are impressed more bv what he siv." iii his last paragraph, viz., that editors of serious magazines accepted "some" chapters and the Broadcasting Company "two. —Ed., "THB Priss."]