DISCOVERING GREAT BRITAIN

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22066, 23 September 1933, Page 4

DISCOVERING GREAT BRITAIN

SOME NOTEWORTHY EXCUR- ■ SIGNS "Tills Was England: a Countryman's:Calendar.” By Horace Annesley Vachell. Illustrated. London: Hodder and' Stoughton. (12s 6d net.) ' " The Beauty of England.” By Thomas Burke. Illustrated. London: Harrap. (Us ne “. Enchanted Ways.” By John Prloleau. Mans and Drawings. Loudon; Dent (8s net.) “See For Yourself: a Field-Book of'SightSeeing.” By Edmund Vale. Drawings by Ruth Vale. London: Dent. (8s net.) - England; .The Unknown Isle. By lam Cohen-Porthelm. Translated by Alan Harris. Sydney : Angus and Robertson; (6s net.) ■■■ Love and Beauty ' Either of the two first , hooks might be compared with “In Search of England,” yet each is ah individual, work, both are distinct in style and experience from Mr Morton’s. The comparison, then; must be based on a realisation in the reader that Mr Burke and Mr Vachell have, like Mr Morton, absorbed deeply the innate and rich charm of England that is not necessarily contained in a row of thatched cottages, or a glimpse of downland and sea, or a legend, or a beautiful cathedral, but is compounded of all these and something more—an essence of England that enters the body and stimulates the perceptions, or else is absent. These are two friendly, understanding , books, that of Mr Burke having most relation to practical matters —for from it one could plan an enriching itinerary—that of Mr Vachell containing more of contemplation and, so. to speak, gossip by the way. “Other countries,” says Mr Burke, “have more majestic landscapes, landscapes ‘romantic’ in the eighteenth century sense; wider horizons, deeper colouring; a more definite spirit;- but our homely SvateT-colour landscapes touch some chord of pathos that is common to the people of all countries.” The England through which he takes us is not all, of course, an England of landscapes, but it is a country with a quiet, not a strident attraction; a country where one may rest aa well as roam; a country which has a respect for the old graces-and virtue?, but is able to adapt itself to the new without loss of dignity. The tour is geographically comprehensive, and the guide well-learned .in every cause for halting and taking notice here, there, and everywhere along the way. Thus “The Beauty of England” Serves a dual purpose aa a book-of-words for the traveller in England or a fireside book for him who would like to he; and it is beautifully illustrated. Mr Vacliell’s more discursive book takes the reader casually, through a year devoted to his thoughts on books, gardens, English scenes, folk-lore, and a hundred other subjects which can only be handled gracefully by a good essayist—as he is. It has two interesting little illustrations, reproduced from etchings.

The Motorist's England Mr Prioleau’s “ Enchanted Ways ” is the third work in. what may well become,Jif ive judge correctly,the exubefantj.questincr spirit of the motorist-author, a whole Series of reliable road-and-scene" guides to the Old ■ World. For'Mr Prioleau is, essentially, a practical motorist, who knows where to take a. car arid how to take.it there (Witness the seventy or more excellent little detail maps -scattered through this volume); but he is essentially a writer also, with, an ■ eye to the beauty that might be missed by the demon-driver, and a happy facility for stating, in a short sentence, just why it is worth jvhilc to stop at a particular village, and ifliy one route will yield more of pleasure than another. This practical and persuasive little book should find a, place in the pocket of every visitor who sees England and Scotland by car. _ Besides the iriaps already mentioned, it contains numerous sketches by Mr G. E, Chambers. How to See Sights Perhaps the most unusual and therefore the most valuable of all these books is, however, Edmund Vale’s “See For Yourself,” in which he provides a' “ fnanual for sightseeing.” His. duty is not to point out the beauty of a. Gothic arch, which after all one must perceive or reject'for oneself, but to explain just what a Gothic arch is, whence it came, and why many Gothic arches are really Gothic and many, alas, that are called Gothic are not. ■ He commences with a cheery, but decidedly not inane, chapter upon the prehistoric ages, warns us against accepting conjectures about Stonehenge, for instance, which have little support, yet never'fails to quote these hypotheses for_ our better understanding and appreciation, of those mighty monuments. Then come chapters on seeing churches, cathedrals, castles, and other historic buildings, with the explanation, where possible, but in every case the

definite description, accompanied by a drawing, of the features of their architecture that’make thorn interesting. Lastly U a “ compendium ” wherein are marshalled definitione, or, as he prefers to call them, dugs, that will enable the alert reader to pick the period from the characteristics of any oastle, or of any arch or Insignificant scroll or decoration, observed in’a visit to England’s relics of the past. It is difficult to suggest the scope of this' little book, or to convey the amount Of technical hiioimatioh that is painlessly conveyed, interspersed with legend add anecdote.-• It may be said, however, that it; is written for the; visitor who realises that a visit to a ruin or a cathedral repays diim best who understands it best. The casual " sightseer ” wots not of this truth, and loses thereby.

*■ . . . With All Thy Faults ” Herr Cohen-Portheim’s “ England, the Unknown Isle,” is a penetrating and detached study of English life and character by a foreigner, and the publication oLan Australian and New Zealand edition ijliould. prove worthwhile. It is; perhaps significant of England’s greatness—or it may be merely the Englishman’s sense of superiority imposing itself upon foreigners of sensibility—that while the visitor who goes, say, to the United States to pray, remains to scoff; or the visitor to France descends to superficialities; the visitor to England is intrigued into worship or, as in Herr CqhenFortheim’s case, into serious and painstaking Much of what he records as characteristic in England is characteristic of the .dominions too; much is so different as to direct the mind of the British reader overseas into a contemplative'and profitable speculation upon the influences of environment opposed to those of heredity. In a great deal of what is written in " The Unknown Isle ” the acute perception ,of the author will be freely acknowledged, and . in those judgments in which it is impossible to concur lies material for reflection upon the curious nature of nationalistic limitations in outlook among intelligent and unbiased persons of different but not unrelated races. In fact, this book is bo fruitful of opportunity for the pursuance of phychological by-paths that for many readers it might well form the basis of a personal study in points of view. But this is not to ignore its primary interest as a not unfriendly’ discussion of English and institutions by a discerning foreigner. J, M.