WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE.

Otago Witness, Issue 2318, 4 August 1898, Page 52

WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE.

Now, there are some good things in " Dawn and Dusk "— some keen flashes of wit and vctfo eu\vo\on, some sweet and ten dor rliynirs. foiuo haunting couplets ; but these arc interspersed with " many things be side" — things that have neither novoHy oi theme or originality of treatment to com mend them. " The Cruise of the In Memo riain, 11 for example, offeis an instance of ver-,? making which has no future in memory c" affection, lh-,ii-fh tho th.erv.j -the omr.ipo tc-nce of tru-i lo *c -\>c one of our dearest. "Oh, captain!'' ciied a widow f-iiv, Her pluuip, white hands rl.ispc-'l &ho, '"Thickest thou, if drowu'rl in this cl'f&J

By Dr Williamson. London and Melbourne: Ward, I>ck, and Co.

That saved wo shcU be?" This voi^o is a very fa vocable s-L-otiyi f:o«i iho 42 which compose the . . . pocni. The bc.-t thing? are amoii^ tho slioil pieces and the sonnels, suine of which aie really very good, as, for example, " Laichcis," " >Sym bols," "Voices," "The Foot Crue," etc. One great atli action which strongly contributed to the success of boih P.Uorson and Lawson, and yet at the same time limits the public to which they truly nyipoaJ, was the slromj local colour— tho brcaih of the sod - which distinguishes tlnir wo; 3:. This fea turc is entirely absent from Daley's \ioik. which deals with emotions rather faun con clifcions or surroundings.

Statesman axd Scholar.

This life of Mr Gladstone, so promptly put before the public while the first keen inievest in all that pertained to the life oi the great statesman is undiminished, will meet with a full and wide appreciation. Though nominally the work of Dr Williamson, as a matter of fact no less than three able men have collaborated in its production. Mr G. K. Emerson began with cnthufeiamn what was a labour of love as well £>s a _ worn of profession, leading his laboius unfinished, summoned by one who " waits for i\o man ; the work was continued by Mr Ronald Smith, who finally made room for Dr Wil liamson. Thus by a number of fortuitous cirouniftances the biography now beiorc us fulfils a notable conviction of Lord Ilo«e bery when he made the remark that "if an adequate biography of Mr Gladstone weid e\er writte.i. it would lie the work of a limited liability company." The volume is a bulky one, though not unhandily f>o, and whan one takes into consideration the extraordinary activity which distinguished the statesman's long life, the remarkable field of his interests in politics, theology, literature, and r>rt_, it shows an admirable precision and conciseness of styie thus to have focuseed such diverse elements. To thobe whom the exigencies of a busy lilc have precluded from following very olosjly the career of Mr Gladstone in any but itb political aspect this record of his life in evciy a&peet— sUlcman and scholar — will roiuo ns a rcvoLuion. Extracts from hi.wiitinjrs and >peeehes are lavishly given, and the book is embellished with numerous excellent illustrations, portrait and otherwise.