AN ENGLISH DIPLOMAT

Press, Volume LXXI, Issue 21376, 19 January 1935, Page 21

AN ENGLISH DIPLOMAT

Maurice de Bunsen. By Edgar T. S. j Dugdale. John Murray. Uss net.) | Li;evi.'V,otl l.y G. il. !.. I.KSTKK. ] I I Maurice de Bunsen belonged to one of the many families who migrated from Germany to England during the reign of the Hanoverian monarchs, and found in England a wider scope for their energies than was aliorded by the petty principalities from whence they came. The de Bunsens came over in Queen Victoria's time, and found their true home in the heterogeneous coterie of more or less intelligent people who throve in the Teutonic atmosphere of her court, and enjoyed, apart from matters of state, her personal confidence. There were princelings like the Munsters, Gleichens, Baitenbergs, and Tecks; scientists as eminent as Niebuhr and Max Muller; and a non-Teutonic group of courtly clergy, Stanley,' Kingsley, Wellesley, and others, whose easy, sentimental Lutheranism, while it would have horrified the grim former monk who flung his inkstand at the Devil, had much in common with the religion of the Court. These happy folk, although they were frowned at by the territorial and political grandees, who were markedly anti-German, had great social influence; and the cadets of their families had perhaps the best start in life, and the most solid backing in their careers of any men of their time. Of such was Maurice de Bunsen. His grandfather was an old fashioned but influential Prussian statesman. His father, after serving in a crack grenadier regiment in Berh.i, migrated to England, and by his marriage with one of the rich Quaker Gurneys secured the financial stability of his family, at. least for his own and the succeeding generation. Maurice, who from his infancy was bilingual, received from Rugby and Oxford the stamp of the conventional Englishman, and entered the diplomatic profession with everything in his favour. He served in almost every diplomatic post that was open to an Englishman, always with acceptance to the country to which he was accredited, and, as far as one can judge: with success in forwarding British interests. If we add that de Bunsen's character was flawless, and that he was universally popular, and if we further take it into consideration that Mr Dugdale has written his biography in collaboration with his subject's wife and daughter, we are not altogether surprised to find it rather dull reading. It is evidently written to commemorate the virtues of a much-loved man for the benefit of his friends and relations; but it contains little of general interest. Though endless distinguished and interesting people appear on his pages, one finds nothing significant recorded of any of them; nor, until we come to the last chapters, is there much that is not commonplace chronicled of the many countries in which de Bunsen served. Chapter XII., however, is both interesting and of considerable value to the historian. It affords a vivid account of the European situation as seen from the Embassy at Vienna, from the day of the murder at Seraievo to the outbreak of the Great War. Nevertheless, for those who like an easy view of the working of the old diplomacy and of the comforts, luxuries, and amusements of the privileged class who in days gone by represented his Britannic Majesty at foreign rourts. this book makes pleasant reading.

A COUNTRYMAN ALIVE

Our Bill. By Frederick GrHewnod. George G. Ilarrap and Co. Ltd. 11l pp. (2s CI net.) "Our Bill.," stales Mr Grisewood, "certainly doer exist and is alive to this day." The assurance is scarcely necessary, because it is quite impossible to read this little volume without coming to the conclusion that "Our Bill" is destined to be a minor immortal. When Mr Grisewood spent some aftor-war years convalescent in a Cotswold village he made an intimate acquaintance of the old fellow. He studied and memorised his sayings, anecdotes, idiosyncrasies, and manners. Later, as Assistant Chief Announcer of the British Broadcasting Corporation, Mr Grisewood gave a series of talks in which he introduced "Our Bill'' as a complete character; and now, with considerable skill, he has made the talks into a book. From the book "Our Bill" emerges a type of all that is best and most appealing in the English countryman, who with his delightful dialect, subtle humour, and abounding good sense has too often been a victim of unin- | formed misunderstanding.

AN ESSAYIST

The Wild Planet. By Walter Murdoch. Angus and Robertson. 203 pp. (is Gd net.) This is another volume of essays by the author of "Speaking Personally," "Saturday Mornings," and "Moreover." For sustained excellence it does not, perhaps, equal the other volumes, but it is all very readable, and in places it is little short of perfection. As usual the author leaps prodigiously from subject to subject, and one moment is urging the necessity of deafness and the next is issuing a challenge to the churches; but his very variety lis probably one half of the secret i of his success, as his good straightforward style is undoubtedly the other half.

POTTERY Art and Craft of the Potter. By Gordon M. Forsyth, R.T., A.R.C.A., F.R.S.A. Chapman and Hall. (10/6 net.) The art of the potter is probably the oldest of ail the arts. Before primitive man formed the idea of ;> house made with hands, or recorded his naive impressions of the hie [around him, in the rude sketches with which he ornamented his cave countless little cave children had moulded mud into images and given them a certain permanence by baking them in the sun. The art of the potter, too, has always had <i special appeal to those who wish to exercise their art without the trouble of learning a craft. Mr Forsyth in this excellent little book claims more for it than either its antiquity or its apparent facility. He claims that it is of supreme educational value; that, within its limitations, it offers the greatest joy to both teacher and pupil; and above all that in an age of machines it is a welcome outlet for the creative instinct of the true craftsman. For although the pottery industry has become highly organised, it has never been dominated by the machine to the same extent as most other industries, and still demands from those who engage in it both skill of hand and the exercise of mental faculties of the highest kind. In support of this claim Mr Forsyth has written an excellent manual dealing with the potter's craft, within the limits imposed by the circumstances of a public school. Ho is an experienced teacher, a competent craftsman, and an enthusiast: and his attractive text book should awaken a widespread interest in a fascinating art. In addition lo tho text, he provides 45 full page photographs taken at the Wedgwood Works, illustrating every step in the manufacture of porcelain from the formless lumps of clay to the final glaze. These are followed by 17 pages of figurines and grotesques, for the most part the work of Burslem art students.

THE AUSTRALIAN ESSAY

Australian Essays. Selected by George If. Cowling and Furnley Maurice. Melbourne University Press. 157 pp. (4s 6d net. School Edition 3s net.) The Australian essay will come into its own one day. Partly as a result of the Australian character, which loves plain speaking, and partly as a result of the demand created by the Saturday morning magazine pages of the newspapers, essay-writing has become the most popular literary art in Australia. In this anthology, designed partly for use in schools, are collected 23 essays by 19 prominent writers, from Edmund Finn ("Garryowen"), who flourished in the first half of last century, to Vance Palmer, the modern novelist and critic. Writers such as Professor Walter' Murdoch, Professor F. Wood Jones, Arthur Jose, J. le Gay Brereton, Sir Archibald Strong, and Donald Macdonald are represented by essays that are characteristically Australian in tone, and worthy to rank with the best that is being produced overseas. Each selection is prefaced by a short biographical and critical note; there is a somewhat inadequate introduction to the whole: and at the end is a full glossary, the value of which, however, is somewhat circumscribed by a number of childish mistakes. Ben Lomond, for instance, is described as "a lake in Scotland." The editors of "Australian Essays," nevertheless, must be congratulated upon their faith and enterprise. One day, when the Australian essay is a distinct literary form, their anthology will be honoured as the pioneer of many of its kind.

| ADVENTURE

Clia*t: and Chance in Indo-China. By Herbert Warington Smyth. C. M. G. William Blackwood and Sons. 1,1 d. 377 pp. (7s 6d net.) Through Whitcombe and Tombs, Ltd. All good readers of "Blackwood's Magazine" will enjoy this book of yarns dealing with adventure in a part of the world that is still unspoilt for the adventurous. Mr Smyth, who was formerly Director of the Department of Mines, Siam, is the type of Englishman—or he makes himself appear so—who delights in trouble almost for its own sake: and consequently he is able to record a number of situations that will make the ordinary fiction-writer turn green with envy. Not only has he exceptionally good yarns to tell, however, but he tells them with such a fine simplicity and economy of language that it is impossible to leave them until they are Finished. ______________

SERIOUS BRIDGE

Lcderer Bids Two Clubs. By Richard Lederer. Williams and Norgate Ltd. 220 pp. (6/- netK The opening words of chapter one give a true indication of the book itself. It reads: "The days when bridge was a mere pastime, an amusement to while away an hour or so after dinner, are gone. Now we take our bridge seriously. . . . For bridge is played (if. indeed, so frivolous a word as "played" can meet the case) with what the immortal Sarah Battle called 'thrigour of the game.' " Provided one is prepared to treat the game thus, there is no doubt much will be gained by a careful study of this book and any others which explain the many systems now in vogue. The average plaver, however, would be liable to make his partner tear his hair trying to follow his play if he played as he is so ably told in this book, but failed to explain his method or system to his partner at great length before the game began.

I A SAD STORY

Luckv Do?. By lan May. llodder and Stoughton. 92 pp. <2/6 net). From VV. S. Smart. The story is told by Little Boy himself. A somewhat over-sanguine mongrel dog, he is adopted by his lady, a well-to-do young married woman and accepted by her in lieu of a more natural little boy. He enjoys life for several months and then'loses it by jumping on the ice in the Serpentine. He doesn't ex-, actly die then, but his action causes the death of his lady, who jumps in to save him and catches her death of cold; and subsequently, while in a fit of canine spleen, he is run over. It is a sad story, and not exactly what might have been expected from lan Hay. But it points a useful moral.