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-THE BOOK WINDOW.

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THE BOOK WINDOW. THE INTERESTING LIFE AND DIVERTING LETTERS p i' OF "EREWHON" BUTLER. I ( Samuel Butler, author of Erewhon, j f- was born on the 4th December, 1835, at Lang-ar Rectory, near Bingham, in Not- tinghamshire. His father was the Rev. iThonias Butler, F.R.G.S., then Rector ( of Langar-with-Bramston, and his grandfather was Dr. Samuel Butler, the famous Heaxlmaiiter ot Shrewsbury School, afterwards Bishop of Lichfield. THAT introduces you to a remarkable Englishman who made a name, in his day, with thinkers, and- who now, judged by the vogue of his Erewhon and other books, promises to win a standing fame. His biography, written by his friend, Mr. Festing Jones, and pub- lished by the Macmillans, has just been published, and it will help to guarantee that fame; for in it, beyond doubt, there lives and moves a real personality—a figure as clean-cut as Butler used. to be when he dwelt in Clifford's Inn. The Unusual Thing. The interesting thing, the unusual thing, may be said to have attended him .from the cradle. Thus: In the ordinary course Butler would have been baptized soon after his birth, but Dr. Butler was to stand godfather and also to perform the ceremony, and was too busy to go immediately to Langar. Further delay was occasioned by its be- t, coming known, in April, 1836, that he was to be madie a Biahop and by the conse- quent arrangements for his leaving Shrewsbury; then came his farewell speech day, and on the 23rd June his wife, who had been to Langar, wrote to him You cannot think what a lovely grand- .child you have; he is only waiting for you to christen him after yourself." Eventually Butler wrote his grand- father's life, and here is a. reflection by him, arising out of that, on the right use of letters in biographies: It is better that I shouM be indiscreet- and dishonourable than that men's true minds should be concealed and turned again to falsehood, if we have a chance of getting at them. It is next to never that we can get any man's genuine opinion on any subject, except the weather or eating and drinking; and when we can do so directly or indirectly neither amour propre nor discretion should be allowed to veil it, for there is nothing in this world eo precious nór is there any other stuff from which fresh, genuine opinion can derive. Publishes" Erewnon." He went to New Zealand for a while, a member of the famous Canterbury Settlement, but his full life only began when he came home again and published Erewhon. Its originality of outlook and freshness of speculation attracted instanjt attention, and, wrote Butler: I may say in passing that I do not wonder at people's saying that Erewhon had been made too much of. I believe Erewhon to be all very well as a beginning; but nothing more. Of my later books I think to the full as well as anyone eke does. I do not doubt that Erewhon owed its. success in great measure to its having appeared anonymously; my Uncle Philip ( Woraley) to this day is very fond of tell- ing me that this was so. I do not like my Uncle Philip, but to, be right in saying what he does. The reviewers did not know but what the book might have been written by a somebody whom it might not turn out well to have cut up, and whom it might turn out very well to have praised. Miss Savage. Anyhow, Erewhon was only a begin- ning in the promulgation of the Butler message, and The Way of all Flesh, another powerful philosophic novel, con- tinued it. He had a great friend, Miss Savage, whose clever letters come oon- stantly into thebiography, and Alethea Pontifex, in The Way of All t Flesh, is drawn from Miss Savage, not as to her personal appearance, and in other respects not precisely as she actually was, but as Butler thought she might have been had she been placed in Alethea's circumstances. Nearly all the things given to Alethea were said by Miss Savage; and when he gave her things said by other people, he did eo because he thought they .were in Migs Savage's manner. But be- yond her mere sayings, the description of a cheerful, humorous, sensible woman of the world is as true a description of Mias Savage as he could make. Remindful of Boswell. Admirably, often with a touch re- mindful of Boswell himself, has Mr. Festing Jones done' his biographer's work. Take this little picture of Sam "in everyday life: Once I showed him three oir four songs I had tried to set to music, and he did not like them. I afterwards wrote one that was just passable because it had what he v called a Handelian baes. I had also been c trying to write poetry, but he dad not like poetry. Shakespeare wrote poetry," I pointed out. Yes," he admitted; "hut Shake- speare's poetry is as good as prose." I felt the implication that thte could not be said of mine, and was silent; I would cail on him in the evening,, and he would read me anything he was writing; or we would talk about books, muaio, or -paintiwi or.. go to a theatre. At that time he belonged to the Century Club, where he took me two or three times; but he soon resigned his membership. A Quiet Ending. A quiet life, a mentally engrossing life, a life whose thought has become an influence on the mass of thought-that was Butler's life. It ended quietly as it had flown: As I went away* I told him I should come and see him in the morning, but he replied he did not suppose he should be there in the morning. Miss Patten, the lady of the house, would not let me leave. I stayed down- stairs, and presently Alfred came for me. We went into the room. He knew us, and said it was a dark morning. It was really a very fine evening; I think he supposed it was the next day. Then he said Have you brought the cheque-book, Alfred? > After that he lay in his chair and in a little while became unconscious. In half an hour, at about 8.40, he breathed for the last time. Yes, but "He, being dead, yeb speaketh." Other Books to Read. I. A Private In the Guards, by Stephen Graham. (Macmilian. 10s. net.) Memories of a Marine, by Sir George Aston. (Murray. 12s. Gd. net.) Average Americans, by Theodore Mosevelt. (Putnam. 7s. 6d. net.) II. The Great House, by Stanley Weyman. (Murray. 7s. net.) Living Alone, by Stella Benson. (Mac- milian. 6s. ii-et.) j In the Heart of a Fool, by William Allen White. (Macmilian. 7s. net.) ELIOT BUCKRAM. T .&

TWO NOVELS. —^—■

LITTLE PITCHERS BOOK. -1

[No title]

"LOVE OF BROTHERS."

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