TWO VETERANS LOOK BACK

Evening Post, Volume CXV, Issue 71, 25 March 1933, Page 19

TWO VETERANS LOOK BACK

TONIC AUTOBIOGRAPHIES

'". , (By "Ajax.") Scveaty. Years in Archaeology. By „: Flinders Petrie, Kt., D.C.L., etc., r -,-etc.-. 9}, x ; 6, .284 pp. London: bampson, Low, Marstou and Co. Ltd. No date. One Man's Koad: Being a Picture of Xafe in a Passing Generation. By Arthur Waugh. Si x si, xv and 390 pp. London: Chapman and Hall . Ltd., 1931. '

, There is nothing wrong with either of these books except that the first of them is without a date. What can be the motive that induces honest and intelligent publishers to resort to- a practice which may enable ~; the less scrupulous members of the trade to ' pass off old books for new, but cannot so far as I can see, serve any useful and honourable purpose? And how long will the law allow any publisher honest or dishonest, to confuse and perhaps'deceive the public in this way when it would be so easy to make the' publication of the date a condition of copyright? I assume that the: -responsibility rests with Messrs. Sampson, Low, Marston, and- Co.-.-,and -not with Sir Flinders Petrie, for the four other books, of his that I^havo are all dated, as you would expect a scholar's books to be; and the list of errata, prefixed to this one suggests, that, perhaps owing to his absence from ;the country, he was unable to pay his. usual attention to its final stages. : If .reviewers would, persistently advertise '.the'- publishers, guilty, of this wretchedM-prac--tice,^ it might be suppressed^without the help of the Legislature. ■i**• ■ ■ ■ ' ■ ... -VViththis exception, both these bpoks have given me: unqualified, pleasure. They emerged together from the same parcel about a week ago, and though "Sehliemann of Troy," which was in- - eluded ill the same order, might have seemed a suitable companion for Petrio. • of the; Pyramids, Beth-pelot, and a' score of other places, Mr. laugh's book was Teally a better choice.- For , Schliemann of Troy died more than 40 years,ago, and Emit- Luawig's brilliant biography is on a different footingfrom. the other two. Both Processor Petrie's book and Mr. Waugh's ;■■ book are autobiographies. The writers ! are both old men according' to • the , calendar. Professor Petrie, who first set •. up as an antiquarian by ;beginiring to ' collect coins at. the age of S, and still • divides his year between digging in* '■ Palestine and classifying, investigating, ; and describing his specimens, and llcc- -:'■ turing in London^ will be 80 on June 3, r . but ho is.' 'far too busy and far too ■;.' eager to think of growing old. . ■

Having retired from the managing directorship of Chapman and. Hall- some two years, ago at the age of 65, Mr. Wanga. has hi 3 doubts upon, the point, and he somej3mes/suff'ers from the feeling that he-is- not wanted.1 .■'■' ... s . 'i- ' The young dp not really ,want us, he

- ■writes; why should-they? 4' They have their own experience to make and must p- .make it in their ojvn Taj- .Every man ,Z has his own road 'to-fbliotf*;^his' oSvn 'corn-

panions to choose;'.:the'hardest lesson ,that age must learn is the knowledge • that the time has come to look on at the race, whilerothers run it>- -That «• the great;' ordeal by change, the' final " tost of character. ; • ■ But Mr. ■yaugh -was a-man of letters ■before he; was a publisher, and this is the second.charming.book that.he has produced in, less than two years of J ftirement. There is no lack of room for work of that quality, and the man .who can supply it is something better " than a looker-on. * ■ ♦ i :.-•»■ Another link between, the two books is the similarity of'the dedicationsj Mr. Waugh's is as fbllpws:— To' •MY WIFE, "Who kndwa the Reason Why • ' There is-eo little about Heiselt In this Story o£ a Life , Which Owes Almost Every tiling To Her. The dedication of Sir Flinders Petrie is essentially the same,'but simpler:— '"- ."■ V ' "' To ' ' . MY WIFE, on Whose Toil Most of ■ My- Work has Depended. ■ 'I-;- •' ' * ;'♦ ■"' •: _ While this dedication to tady Petrie is the Alpha of the volume,!its Omega indicates, probably more neatly than was.intended, the- importance.,of her ,V share in, the.work. An, appeal "by the British School 'pi, Egyptian Arehacol: yogy^;for funds to,', excavate the,city of .Ajjul^-the site- of '-which-, about five .:. milesfro,m. Gaza, has recently been .brought to-light by the labours of Yd.& „• school, under the: direction, of . Sir , FJinders, Petrie, forms a sort of .appendix to his volume, arid concludes with the 'intimation:—

Hon. Assistant Director and' Hon, , : Secretary: Lady Petrie, University College, Gower Street, London, W.C.I.

The opening and the concluding passages of this appeal are worth quoting as illustrating.the phase of the work, its' immense scope and importance, and the precariousness of its. finance. "

Under the title of "A New City, is Unearthed," the society's appeal opens as follows:—

Our excavations in South Palestine have now brought us to the actual ' site .- of Ajjul, home of the Hyksos, or Shepherd Kings. This city, twenty times . larger than Troy, lies on the ancient international road between Palestine and Egypt. It was strongly fortified, andwith its ramparts and defences covered an area of 50 acres.' Ajjul stands on a "tell" about forty feet high, commanding what was then a wide estuary, -but is n6w ■ a dry stream-bed o£ the Wady Ghuzzeh. It was a key city and its harbour must have played an important part m the trade between Asia and Africa. ' Our discoveries clearly controvert the popular notion that the Shepherd Kings were merely wandering nomads living in hair tents; here is evidence of centuries of settlement with brick fortresses, harbourage, and a system of weights and measures that show established commerce with Egypt and other countries.

The conclusion of the appeal is as follows: —

When the city of Ajjul and the surrounding settlements are further laid bare, Sir Flinders Petrie hopes to find the remaining links connecting the Neolithic Age with early Egypt. There is no Government grant for this work, and it depends entirely on donations and subscriptions - from Great Britain and America, and on the honorary service of the Director and of the Organising Secretary. Adefluate support is urgently necessary, how#ver, and we confidently rely upon all vho have the interests of Egypt and Palestine at heart to see that our work 1» not delayed, at this interesting stage ty lack o£ funds.

I Tie fert of Sir PlMers '» iJttea^rehßui.ary, pages is filled by. twoby

characteristic and tonic quotations. "Sallustius the- Splendid," a writer unknown to me, supplies the first. The second is taken from "Epietetus the Slave," and reads as follows:—

Dare to look ap to God,, and say, Deal wiflume henceforth as thou wilt; I am ot one mind with thee; lam thine. I reject nothing that seems good to thee; lead me whithersoever thou wilt, clothe me in what dress thou wilt, - . . If Death shall find me in the midst of these Studies, it shall suffice me if I can lift up my hands to God and say, The means which thou gayest me, for the perceivin* of thy government, and for the following o£ the same, have I not neglected. 1 am content that I have used thy gifts so long. Take them again, and set them m what place thou .wilt, for thine were all things, and thou gayest them to me .■ * * *

Epictetus was a pagan as well as a slave, but he was a better Christian than most of us, nevertheless.