Unper. Ten Viceroxs. Reminiscences of a Gurkha. By Major-General Nigel Woodyatt, c.n., ow, Jenkins. 16s, net.
The list of Viceroys, which gives the title to this modest and good-humoured book, begins with Lord Ripon (1880) and ends with Lord Reading (1921). The author's memories of forty years in the Indian Army range from grave to gay, and there is not a page that is not readable and reliable, while a charming personality is unconsviously, unostentatiously revealed throughout. There are some__ good stories—Plutarchan in that they depict character as a landscape is shown- by a lightning flash—of still living celebrities and of offers who have but lately passed away. Thus the late Lord Kitchencr's dramatic recall from Dover at the outbreak of the wat, when he! was on his way back to Fgypt, is retold as follows: He received a message to speak to Mr. Asquith on the telephone, and re-pies "Damn Mr. Asquith! have nothing more to do with that Government. They are a lob of haverers, and I hate haverers."" When the conversation did take place Lord Kitchener's. remarks could be heard outside Dover! The Major-General suffers politicians gladly, and even the impressions of Mr. Winston Churchill's provoxing precocity (he once said the aly sence of spears '"'to jab into the fox at the finish" was a weak point in fox-hunting, and hei said it in the }4th Hussars mess) do not arouse in him the slightest signs of wrath. General Sir William Birdwood is the hero of several quotable anecdotes, the best of which is the
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.