MARLBOROUGH DEFENDED

Dominion, Volume 28, Issue 122, 16 February 1935, Page 19

MARLBOROUGH DEFENDED

“Marlborough, His Life and Times,” Volume 11, by the Rt. Hon. Wins- - ton S. Churchill. (London: George C. Harrad and Company, Limited. 37/6).

It is not surprising to find .Mr. Churchill endeavouring to remove some of the denigration to which his illustrious ancestor has been subjected ever since Dean Swift made those revelations which aroused the ire of the whole English people. In the second volume of “Marlborough, His Life and Times,” this motive in the book is kept steadily before the reader; it is aided by the publication, for the first time, of some of Marlborough’s correspondence. During the four years covered by the book Marlborough led England as Cap-tain-Gener?J and, with Godolphin, as virtual Prime Minister. He conducted England’s foreign policy and was the mainspring of the Grand Alliance and its many signatory states. Nothing like this concentration of business and vigorous action upon a single man had been seen before in Europe, and never had such influence been brought to bear in Europe by any man not possesing a kindly title. Yet in the midst, of all this scarcely a day passed without Marlborough finding time to write a letter to his most intimate correspondents, Godolphin and his wife, Sarah. They reveal his secret hopes and fears: more than that. Marlborough shows himself as weary of all this war, longing to be home with his w-ife as his one great ambition. ■ With a maze of sovereigns and prices forming a mass of characters in the background, we are taken to the great victory of Blenheim and Marlborough’s triumph. The great general, wearied and often ill as a result of his campaigning and of the inability or lack of desire of his allies to support him, seems almost indifferent to the graces of his queen when he is restored for .a brief time to his wife, and that is the impression we receive of him throughout the volume. It is not necessary to commend Mr. Churchill’s well-known style, his exhaustice researches displayed in the book, or the wealth of anecdote which he introduces into it. His efforts on behalf of the Duke of Marlborought may change the aspects of history. BOOKS IN DEMAND The Chief Librarian of the Wellington Public Libraries has furnished the following list of books in demand. GENERAL. “African Intrigue,” by A Batson. "Thomas Mann,” by J. Cleugh. “After Strange Gods,” by T. S. Eliot. "Three Lives,” by S. Foot. “Christianity and Economics,” by A. D. Lindsay, “Germany Reborn,” by H. Goering, FICTION. “Gentlemen I Address You Privately,” by K. Boyle. "The Townsend Murder Mystery,” by R. Cohen. “A Pin to See a Peejisliow,” by F. T. Jesse. “The Elmslie Mystery.” by A. A. Kenny. ' ' - “Rangeland Justice,” by J. McCulley. ■ "Scarweather,” by. A. Rolls. ' "Flame of Fplly," by L. Noel.