Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 3.djvu/123

 s. in. FEB. 4, 1905.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

Gala. He commenced his military career in the 50th British Kegiment, 20 July, 1793.

R. J. FYNMOKE. Sandgate, Kent.

NOTES ON BOOKS, &c. The Garrick Club. By Percy Fitzgerald, F.S.A.

(Stock.)

A PLEASANT and very readable account of the Garrick Club has been supplied by Mr. Percy Fitz- gerald, now for nearly thirty years a member. An industrious and a voluminous author, principally on subjects connected with the stage, Mr. Fitz- gerald is eminently we may say exceptionally qualified for the task he undertakes. Most of the

Srincipal social clubs, from the Athenaeum to the riental, have found their historians ; and one poli- tical club, the Reform, has enjoyed the same privilege. Thanks to its possession of a magnificent gallery of pictures, chiefly portraits of actors, pre- sented to it by its members, the Garrick offers special temptations to a writer devoted to theatrical pursuits. The character of the early members, many of whom were celebrated in literature or on the stage, constitutes a further attraction. In a sense in which the term can be used of no other institution of like standing, the club is social. Membership has from the outset involved something like the dream of the French revolutionaries liberty, equality, and fraternity while within the club gates, and the admission of a member has enabled him virtually to dispense with an introduction on approaching his fellows. Conviviality was in the early days a feature of the club, and still, though in a less degree, continues ; and a share much larger than is commonly allotted to general conversation has prevailed. To describe the men brilliant, fashionable, witty, erudite, or socially distinguished who at different periods have frequented the club is a task for Mr. Fitzgerald and not for the critic of his volume. The club was distinguished from the outset as a circle of wits, and the presence among the early members of men such as Barham (Ingoldsby), "Tom" Duncombe, Capt. Gronow, Theodore Hook, Lockhart (we suppose this, who is only called J. Lockhart, to have been John Gibson Lockhart, the son-in-law and biographer of Scott), the Mathewses (Charles and Charles James), John Poole (of ' Paul Pry '), and James Smith, justifies the use of the title. A full description of the manner in which, through the generosity of Rowland Durrant, concerning whom ordinary biographies are silent, the Mathews collection of pictures became the property of the club is supplied. This noble collection, the value of which cannot easily be overestimated, has received signal addi- tions in subsequent years, and stands now, it is to be supposed, in its line unrivalled. It is to be wished that Mr. Fitzgerald were a more trust- worthy guide, since his work is apt to be regarded in some quarters as official or inspired by the trustees or committee of the club, which is not the case. A complete guide to the pictures is a desi- deratum. On the task of preparing such more than one competent pen is supposed to be engaged. Reference is made to the exclusion from member- ship of Thomas Campbell, in consequence, it is said,

of a costly habit in which he indulged of breaking the glasses from which he had been drinking. Con- siderable space is afforded Thackeray, whose por- trait forms a frontispiece to the book, and a full discussion is to be found of the dispute between him and Edmund Yates, which led to the banish- ment of the latter from the club and one of the not infrequent resignations of Charles Dickens. It is expedient that the truth should be known, and Mr. Fitzgerald is an unprejudiced witness, whose bias, if any existed, would be in the direction of Dickens. There are many interesting portraits of people named in the book, though comparatively few of these are from club sources. The work is- brightly written and eminently readable. It will recommend itself to others besides the members of the club with which it deals.

The American Revolution. By the Right Hon. Sir George Otto Trevelyan, Bart. New Edition. 3 vols. (Longmans & Co.)

A REVISED and cheaper edition of Sir George Trevelyau's ' American Revolution ' treads closely upon the heels of the first edition. It is in some- respects superior to the preceding work, and con- tains a notable addition in an excellent portrait of the author. So far as regards the first volume, a- marked improvement has been effected. This, originally published as Part I., and covering the period from 1766 to 1776, has now been rearranged and, to some extent, rewritten. What is judged to be irrelevant has been expunged and replaced by other matter, the result of subsequent dis- covery or reflection ; the entire work has been, arranged in chapters, consecutively numbered, and the whole now forms a continuous and sustained history of the period discussed. To the successive volumes of the original edition we drew attention, (see 9 th S. iii. 138 ; xii. 458), pointing out that the history was written from an American standpoint rather than a British, did full justice to the loyalty of the American colonies until stirred by intoler- able wrong, and showed in the clearest light the- pigheadedness and incapacity of English manage- ment and the rapacity and greed of English com- merce. What we read concerning Russian mis- management and rapine to-day is less astounding than are the revelations of English dishonesty a century and a quarter ago. Considering the point of view taken, no less than the vivacity of the pictures afforded, there is no cause for surprise that the popularity of the work in America has been as great as that in England. Something in. the way of an approach to international amity haa been fostered, if not aroused, by its appearance. For the first time the American has been shown- how large a proportion of what was best in English, life and thought sympathized with him in his- endeavour to throw off an unjust and abominable yoke. From historical students and from statesmen of authority Sir George has received assurances of the salutary effects 01 his writing, while the more enlightened portion of the American press has welcomed the book as making for friendship. Most important result of its appearance is the call on the other side of the water for a recasting of those American school-books which have preached ani- mosity and encouraged dislike to Great Britain. "It is manifest," says one periodical of wide circu- lation and influence, " that most of our school his- tories of the United States will have to be rewritten, for the major part of them fail to recognize the