Publisher's Synopsis
Some months ago a volume called Brief Diversions induced us to hope that, ere long, its author might again delight us with something from his pen. Mr. J. B. Priestly has not disappointed us, and in Papers from Lilliput it is possible to trace a distinct advance, if along a rather different line. from those brilliant little parodies of his. I remember being once instructed in the profound wisdom of a certain famous politician upon entering the House of Commons. A man of the highest talent and of great versatility in scholarship, in affairs and in the art of speech, he electrified the House by his maiden effort, which was a piece of brilliant cynicism, sparkling with humour and epigram. But on the next occasion, very shortly afterwards, when he addressed the House, he did so in very different vein. He spoke upon a subject which he had obviously studied with care, and he made a speech which was as full of depth and thought and sound common sense as the first had been abundant in coruscating wit. The thing was done, doubtless, consciously and deliberately, by a young man who very well knew what was best for his career. Mr. Priestly has done much the same thing in the matter of book-writing, though probably without any such deliberate intention. His first book was sheer wit: his second reveals careful thought, keen observation, wide reading and variety of interest. It is common practice to deplore the decline of the essay. Mr. Priestly, in common with one or two other young writers, gives the lie to that fashionable commentary upon the literature of the day. These papers have already appeared in various periodicals. They range over many subjects (in the selection of which one may be pardoned for suggesting the possible influence of "Max''), and Mr. Priestly never loses that delicacy of touch and treatment which was so manifest in Brief Diversions. Here is Mr. Priestly "On Gossip": "Our gossip and scandal is a grub, which in a hundred years' time, with the advent of the historian, will become a chrysalis: and in four or five hundred years' time the hard shell will be burst upon, and there will be seen the winged splendour of epic poetry or romantic drama. Have not all the subjects of history and epic poetry been nothing more than eager talk in the Court or the kitchen? "Have you heard the latest?" the cry went; then followed the pretty little scandal of Helen, wife of Menelaus, and the Troy affair; or perhaps a full account of the queer business of Hamlet at the Court of Denmark." Papers from Lilliput is distinctly a book to buy -- and keep.--The Bookman's Journal and Print Collector, Volume 7
