* * * * *

In a preface to _In the Cockpit of Europe_ (SMITH, ELDER) Lieut.-Colonel
ALSAGER POLLOCK states that "the personal experiences of George Blagdon, in
love and war, have been introduced solely in the hope of inducing some of
my countrymen to read what I have to say about other important matters"--an
ingenuous confession which deprives my sails of most of their wind.
Otherwise I should have said that this book is not so much a novel as an
airing-ground for grievances, adding for fairness that these grievances are
national and not personal. A terrific war with Germany gives _Blagdon_
opportunity to win various distinctions, and _Marjory Corfe_ affords him
ample justification for falling in love; but although I grant, even in the
face of that preface, that _Blagdon_ is not completely a puppet, he is used
mainly to emphasize his creator's ideas. Officials at the War Office who
read _In the Cockpit of Europe_ may possibly require some artificial aids
to digestion before they have finished it, but both they and the
Parliamentary and Ministerial strategists will have to admit that their
critic's honesty of purpose is beyond all manner of doubt.

* * * * *

[Illustration: USEFUL INVENTIONS.

THE FLOATING COLLAR-STUD--JUST THE THING FOR YACHTSMEN.]

* * * * *

BUDDHA.

The little jade Buddha (his favours increase!)--
He's soapy and bland,
And he sits on his stand
And he smiles, and he smiles in an infinite peace;
For he's old, and he knows that, whatever befall,
There is nothing that matters, no, nothing at all.

The little jade Buddha (on us be his balm!)--
The Wheel turneth just
As it must, as it must,
So he sits in an ageless, ineffable calm
Where apples and empires may ripen or fall,
But there's nothing that matters, no, nothing at all

* * * * *

Transcriber's note:

The typographical error "sich" in the last paragraph of
"Honorifics" on page 81 was replaced by "such".

***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PUNCH, OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI, VOL.
146, FEBRUARY 4, 1914***

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