out to ridicule--well,
there was nothing specially enlivening in that. Briefly, young _Simon
Honeyball_ in his parents' home threatened to weary me. But later, when
he had migrated with his money and his extraordinary collection of
_proteges_ to Silverside, E., and there set up his preposterous
household, and become a Guardian (with what devastating municipal
results you may guess!) I found myself the grateful admirer of both
_Simon_ and his creator. Mr. LYONS' sympathetic drawing of certain odd
London characters is a thing that I have often admired; he has no better
portraits in his gallery than these of the quaint objects of _Simon's_
Silverside hospitality. Specially did I like _Margaret_, the wholly
ungrateful young woman whom he had befriended, and the trenchant speech
with which she expressed her resulting opinion of his sagacity. She and
others are also depicted in some very attractive drawings which
illustrate (for once the right word) a book that, while perhaps not for
every reader (parents please take note), will certainly delight those
who can appreciate it.

* * * * *

Lean, clean, brown Englishmen bear the stamp of the Public Schools upon
them and have made England what she is. Smug-faced missionaries grow fat
on the spoils they have collected from smug-faced
church-and-chapel-goers at home. Labour Members are in the pay of
Germany and frequent infamous flats in the West-End. Liberal Cabinet
Ministers--sometimes, more shame to them, of decent birth--wince
consciously when reminded of the taint of their association with
plebeian colleagues. These things, and many more of equal moment, I have
learnt from Mr. STANLEY PORTAL HYATT, who in _The Way of the Cardines_
(WERNER LAURIE) describes how _Sir Gerald_, of that famous family,
captured, with reckless profusion of local blood, the independent island
of Katu. Katu is in the Malay Archipelago. Of vital importance as a key
to the Eastern trade route it is eagerly sought after by Germany, and to
Germany's protection, after _Sir Gerald's_ exploit, a pusillanimous and
almost more than Liberal English Government basely ceded it. But what
could you expect when _Sir Joseph Darkin_, smug-faced hypocrite (I am
sorry, but almost everybody in this book except the _Cardines_ had a
smug face), was a member of our Cabinet? Were it not that Mr. HYATT
writes with a distinct sense of style and some power of narrative, I
should boldly label _The