THE ART OF PICNIC

Otago Daily Times, Issue 27499, 20 September 1950, Page 2

THE ART OF PICNIC

Fun And Erudition English Picnics. By Georgina Battiscombe. Harvill Press. 9s 6d. ' Of her book, Mrs Battiscombe, after calling it a “gallimaufry,” modestly says that “it is intended to amuse rather than to instruct.” She has indeed produced a diverting piece of work, so original in its nature that it cannot fail also to convey information. Everyone knows what a picnic is, but we discover from Mrs Battiscombe’s pages that no one seems to know just Where the word came from and when it first appeared in English. Her comments on this incidental point are illuminating. Her theme, however, is “English picnics.” She says right at the beginning: “A picnic is the Englishman’s grand gesture, his final defiance flung in the face of fate. No climate in the world is less propitious to picnics than the climate of England, yet with a recklessness which is almost sublime, the English rush out of doors to eat a meal on every possible and impossible occasion.” It is peculiar that the picnic should be so characteristic an English entertainment, and whether he is visiting Mount Hecla in Iceland or a rubber plantation in Malaya, he is sure to arrange a picnic. The book develops into an anthology about picnics. The gleanings are scanty at first. There is one about a party of monks resting by the wayside about 875 and eating their bread and a tender cheese, and all that distinguishes this event is that a miracle occurred. In Tudor and Stuart days the going is somewhat better with the assistance of Isaac Walton and Pepys and the lesser known Marmaduke Rawdon. From some diaries and letters Mrs Battiscombe has gleaned a few curious treasures and then she goes on to Wordsworth, Queen Victoria, Sir Walter Scott, Parson Kilvert, Byron and Tennyson—the latter producing a pasty “ costly-made, where quail and pigeon, lark and leveret lay, like fossils of the rock, with golden yolks imbedded and injellied.” The illustrations—from a fifteenth century print to Leech’s caricatureare excellent. This is indeed a delightful volume/ D. G. B. KNOCKED-UP " BEFORE KNOCK OFF? .Working harder? .'. longer hours? .. . feeling the strain? Don’t let constipation make things worse. Rely on Chamberlain’s Tablets . . A mild, gentle laxative —nothing harsh or harmful—just a natural stimulus to normal bowel action. Helps to keep them working properly, regularly Start taking “ Chamberlain’s ’’ to-night Small size Is Bd, family size 3s 4d.—Mellier (N.Z.), Ltd., 49 Swanson street, Auckland.—Advt.