MR F. S. OLIVER’S DEATH

Evening Star, Issue 21784, 28 July 1934, Page 19

MR F. S. OLIVER’S DEATH

The death of Mr E. S. Oliver at his Jedburgh home last month takes from us (said the 1 Observer ’) a man rarely endowed with many gifts and many attractions. He jooked what he was, a person of extreme distinction; there was that about him which may be called fascination touched with severity. That he lived till seventy was in its way a wonder, for his life for years had the sharp irony of wealth without health. What he achieved was the more remarkable and ensures that his recollection by posterity shall survive the affection of his friends. He bad been it great business man before lie turned like Grote and Hodgkin, but in another way than theirs, to literature. His ‘ Alexander Hamilton,’ though a portrait with a purpose, is a brilliant piece of colouring. ‘ Ordeal By Battle ’ cannot be neglected amongst the studies of democracy in relation to war. ‘ The Endless Adventure ’ —left, alas, unfinished—devotes to .Sir Robert Walpole and his age a book full of vivid artistry and acute analysis. In polities he was amongst the few who count behind the scenes As a conversationalist and let-ter-writer he was amongst the best of his time.