BOOKS OF THE DAY.

Dominion, Volume 16, Issue 171, 7 April 1923, Page 21

BOOKS OF THE DAY.

Give a man a pipe he can smoke, Give a man a book he can read: And hie home is bright with a calm delight Though the room be poor indeed. b —JAMES rnOMEOU.

BOOKS OF THE DAY

Dr. Johnson’s “Bozzy.” From America comes an exceptionally interesting and valuable addition to what might be called Boswelliana. This is ‘‘Young Boswell: Chapters on James Boswell, the Biographer, based largely on now material,” by Professor Chauncey Brewster Tinker (Atlantic Monthly Press, Boston, per G. P. Putnam’s, Sons, and Whitcombe and Tombs). Professor Tinker has had access to the famous collection of Johnsoniana formed by Mr. Adams, of Buffalo, a collection to which the late Dr. Biirkbeck Hill, the editor of the Oxford Press monumental edition of the “Life,” acknowledged his indebtedness. Professor Tinker now gives us a richly detailed portrait of Johnson s biographer. Even in his earlier life “Bozzy” gave his father, that dour but common-sense old Scot, Lord Auohenleck —a Scots landlord —a good deal of trouble. At the university he proved himself a prig, and, worse stull, from old Auchinleck’s point of view, a spendthrift. Also, he was, alas, c.eoidedly promiscuous in his amorous m- , clinations. Professor Tinker quotes one of “Bozzy’s” letters in which he al'hides to a “pretty lively, black (dark), little lady,” whose “expenses in Edinburgh I very genteelly pa’d.” The result of this acquaintanceship was a child, “little Sally.” There was‘also a boy, for whoso maintenance, when he departed for Holland, to study law, Boswell agreed to disburse the magnificent sum of £lO a year! From Utrecht Boswell went on to Switzerland, where, at Geneva, he met Jean Jacques Rousseau ; to Italy, where ho made the acquaintance of the notorious demagogue, John Wilkes—“ Liberty Wilkes”—: and to France, where he had a brief interview with Voltaire. From Italy Boswell crossed to Corsica, his mania for hero-worship leading him to seek out and become a friend of the island patriot, Paoli, afterwards, an exile in London, to become a fnena of Johnson, Reynolds, and other famous men. In 1766. being then only twenty-six, we find Boswell in London, and, three years later, he married his cousin, Margaret Montgomery. by whom he had seven children. Neri.her Mrs. Boswell nor good old Auchinleck shared “Bozzy’s” devotion to Johnson, whom the wife called “an ugly, uncouth man.” As for old Auchinleck. who, as a strict Presbyterian and staunch Whig, could not fail to distrust the doctor, who was an equally staunch and convinced Anglican and Tory, he did not conceal his contempt for his son and his son’s infatuation for the ex-pedagogue from the provinces. “There’s nao hope for Jamie, mon,” he said to a friend. “Jamie is gaen clean gyto. . . Mhose tail do you think he’s pinned hnnselt to now, mon? A dominie, mon, an auld dominie, he keep it a schule an caa’.d it on acaademee. All tn® same, when Johnson, in company with Boswell, visited the father, on his j’ourney to the Hebrides, the pan got on together fairly well, old Auchinleck grudgingly admitting the Doctor’s eminence as a literary au--411 After the death of his wife, Boswell, who, even as a young man, was sadly addicted to tippling, gave way for a time to his old enemy. He made the most virtuous resolutions of reform, and looked round for a second wife to help him in his efforts to conquer his weaknesses. Professor Tinker gives a most amusing account of Bozzy s endeavours io discover a rich woman to succeed the departed wife, and quotes also from letters written by ‘ Bozzy to various statesmen, including the younger Pitt, seeking their aid in securing a well-paid Government position. He did eventually succeed in getting made Recorder of Carlisle, but it was an unimportant, poorly-paid office. . Ono fact which stands out clearly in this interesting account of Boswell is the proof it affords of “Bozzy s genius for making acquaintance with eminent men. He has been called an inspired Zany,” and Macaulay actually advanced the extraordinary paradox that because ho was, as the great historian considered him, a complete fool, he was thereby enabled to write what is admittedly the finest biography in the English language. But were he really the prig, the toady, the conceited fool, that he has so often been pictured as being, it is scarcely conceivable that men like Johnson and Reynolds and Garrick could ever have admitted him to the sacred circle of “The Club.” Professor Tinker makes it clear that in Boswell was a combination—not always, but very often—of great natural shrewdness and real ability with that vanity and folly which, in most, accounts of his life, arc so scathingly exposed. Professor Tinker’s book affords much interesting information as to the careful way in which Boswell took notes of Johnson’s conversation, and the work, as a whole, is a rich store of Johnsonian and Boswellian anecdote. A specially valuable feature of the book, the typography and handsome get-up of which does high credit to the Atlantic Monthly Press, is its wealth . of interesting illustrations- Those include several portraits, hitherto unpublished, of Boswell, facsimiles of title pages, letters, and manuscript , notes for the “Life,” and portraits of Johnson, Malono, the Master of Auchinleck, Mrs. Piozzi, and others. The portraits and facsimiles are beautifully reproduced, the whole volume constituting an exceptionally interesting addition to Johnsonian anecdote, as well as throwing many new and valuable sidelights on the personality of his famous biographer. (N.Z. price 18s.) “Egypt—Old and New.”

A popular account of ilia Land of the Pharaohs, in both ancient and modern days, such as Mr. Percy F. Martin’s ‘.‘Egypt—Old and Now” (London: Allen and Unwin, Ltd.), ts possessed just now of a special interest, for of Into Egypt has, alike through tho wonderful discoveries at Luxor and tho political _ turmoil at Cairo, been very much in tho. public eyo. Mr. Martin has written his book —and a very fine book it is—‘‘from the traveller’s and economist’s point of view*.” Ho gives detailed descriptions of Cairo and Alexandria, and of Egyptian institutions of all kinds, with much useful information as to the industries and commerce of tho country. There is an excellent summary of tho ancient history of the country, of tho religious beliefs of tho people in various ages, and of popular social customs, the statistical information being arranged in that popular and attractive way which the author has employed in his wellk'nown works on certain South American countries. For many of its readers, however, the most interesting of Mr. Martin’s chapters will doubtless be those which are devoted to ancient Thebes (the wonderful “city of the i hundred gates”), on tho site of [ which such -wonderful discoveries of [ Egyptian treasure have recently been

made by European archaeologists. The important part played >n the R , tural and industrial life of Egypt, by Old Father Nile is the subject o/ a very fascinating chapter. A specially attractive feature of Mr Martin’s book is its long seriesj 0 beautiful illustrations. the pyramidsand the ruined temples at Philae, now partially submerged, as part of the colossal enterprise by Sir William Willcocks by which the waters of the Nile are dammed iw for utilisation in irrigating hundreds o thousands of acres of what vas fo merlv almost sheer desert. ibere ™e also pictures of interesting scenes not only on the Nile, but in the desert oases, in the busy Alexandria, and in the the patiently industrious toil early and late, more, alas. to the benefit of the foreign bondholder than that of the plodding tiller of the soiL These coloured illustrations, from photographs, are forty-five m number, and fre very beautifully reproduced In addition there are a large number of illustrations, sonio seventy w eighty, in half-tone, the two series constituting a most interesting p torial guide to the beauties and wonders of that ancient land, which Napoleon Bonaparte described as the most important country m the world. Mr. Martin’s volume should be in great demand as a gift book or , prize. It covers more ground than any other single book on Egypt that the present writer can remember, and is so beautifully produced as to be well worth buying if only on its artistic merits. (N.Z. price, 275. fid.) A Book for Collectors. A most interesting and valuable addition to the literature dealing with English ceramic art is Mr. J- * • Blacker’s “The A.B.C ot Englm SaltGlaze Stone AVare, from Dwight Doulton” (being the latest'Volume of that admirable senes, Hie A.um Series for Collectors” (Stanley Paul and Co.). The salt-glaze industry flourished m the larer part of the seventeenth century, and in the eighteenth ?entury, amongst the earlier dates being 1674, lbB , 1691 on Brampton ware—-sometimes by the way called Chcsterfie Some of the choicest specimens of this ware were made by John Dwig i , Fulhams, during the 4 st seventeenth century, and with Dwight b work the first section of _ Mr ' - ® work is mainly concerned. Early in the nineteenth century most ot the potters fell into line with the and the salt-glaze stoneware decl ned before the more popular cream-colour earthenware, invented about the midriff of the eighteenth century by Josiah Wedgwood. It fell to the famous firm of London potters, the Doultons, of Lambeth, to revive the manufacture of salt-glaze ware. The old salt-glaze ware was stone colour, or brown ot varying’tones, and, says Mr. Blacker, was lacking in the beauty that arises from the vivid colours of the painter s palette. It was the finest achievement of the Doultons to develop their waro —their coloured salt-glaze stone" warc —until it has reached heights before undreamt of. Collectors, however, attach special valu® to the old time ware made by Dwight, by William Bromley, of Brampton, and by the Morley family, at Nottingham, and by the Ashbury’s and other famous Staffordshire potters. Mr. Blacker devotes special chapters to the Staffordshire salt-glaze stoneware, some of which was white, not the usual brown, and some most beautifully enamelled. It is interesting to learn that Josiah Wedgwood, who after many failures, succeeded in perfecting the fine creamcoloured waro which was destined to supersede so largely the salt-glaze stoneware, generously claimed no patent rights, and thus enabled scores of his trade competitors to supply the same article. Mr. Blacker is recognised as a high authority on all branches of cpramio'art, being the author of much esteemed works on Oriental and Indian pottery, as well as upon the several varieties of English chinaLike its predecessor in the same scries Mr. Blacker’s latest volume is most profusely illustrated with full page and smaller plates, representing choice and curious specimens of the articles described in the text. The fuli-page plates are of exceptional beauty. Mr. Blacker’s handsomely produced volume should strongly appeal to all collectors, gven in the humblest way,’ of the rare and beautiful work of the earliest English potters. (N.Z. price, 205.) Ths Economics of Unemployment.

Mr. J. A. Hobson, tho author nf ‘Tho Economics of Unemployment (George Allen and Unwin, Ltd.), is a well-known writer on social and industrial problems. His argument is that protection, imperialism and restriction of output by capital and labour all testify' to a belief in a limited market, that is, a failure of world consumption to keep pace with increasing powers of production. According to°M’r. Hobson, the present great depression of trade, though greatly aggravated by the financial, commercial and industrial disintegration proi duced by tho Great AVar, and what the author styles the “Bad Peace,” can only be explained, like other normal depressions, as due primarily to underconsumption, itself caused by inequality in tho distribution of income. There is a full discussion of tho part played by psychological and financial conditions in tho expansion and contraction of trade, and the errors of tho “Douglas Theory” arc exposed. Mr. Hobson applies to all alleged remedies for unemployment the text, “Does it tend towards greater equalisation of incomes?” and claims that he proves that to increased p'roductivity is economically valid unless accompanied by improved distribution. As for wage reductions his contention is that by further restricting popular consumption they can only aggravate the malady. According to Mr. Hobson, a solution of the present day economic problem “can only be found by such economic, social, and political reforms as secure a drastic redistribution of the product of industry.” He believes that “no people prepared to launch in any .wholesale way” on any such revolution as that involved by' “State Socialism, or Guild Socialism, or any form of Communism.” His final conclusion is that,

some mixed policy of national ownershin of prinio monopolies, coiffrol of profits, prices, and conditions of employment in other industries where some measure and degree of direct or indirect competition survives, with a limited period of free, profitable enterprise as an, incentive to new enterprises—the whole of this linked up by a tax system whereby society secures for beneficial public services the idle elements of income which do not nourish or evoke productive effort —this mixed policy adapted to the varying conditions in the world of industry will best achieve the better and more enual distribution and utilisation of income that are required. The adjective “mixed” may uscm to

many readers of Mr. Hobson’s thought provoking book to be extremely appropriate when applied to a policy which, divested of verbiage, appears to be one of extreme State Socialism plus confiscation of accumulated wealth. Mr. Hobson is. good enough to allow “a limited period of free, profitable enterprise as an incentive to new enterprises,” but how many industralists would care to embark upon new enterprises, when, once the “limited period!’ has elapsed, they aro to fall into the hands of the State? Such a prospect may not seem to the enterprising industrialist so alluring as apparently it doos, on paper, to Mr. Hobson. (N.Z. price, 65.).