as helping to illuminate present-day war news. The West Indian Histories 10 in theory go back to the principle “start near at home". In practice, Book I starts off with an attempt to explain history, time, and space-a somewhat difficult approach for the middle standards. We then jump to the white man and his arrival in the west, pass through the slave days and abolition of the slave trade, and end up with an account of Crown Colony government-and one wonders what idea the twelve-year-old has of history'. Book II introduces migrations and discoveries, and skips from prehistoric man to the colonial struggles of the Spanish, Dutch, French, and English. Book III covers West Indian history from 1600 to 1900. The chief omission seems to be any introduction to British history which might show West Indian children the roots from which so many of their present-day institutions spring.

Text-books and reading-books about science should be, and generally are, searchlight books. The Oxford University Press has recently published two series, one simple the other more advanced. In Beasts and Birds of Africa11 youngsters will be interested to see if book' knows as much as they do about wild life. In any case they will, when reading it, be making valuable links between book and the world around them, and the same is true in The Plague of Locusts.11 General Science for Colonial Schools 12 is a regular text-book written by a science master in Malaya, introducing elementary chemistry, physics, and biology. It is very well illustrated, and should help especially those who have to find and prepare their own specimens and apparatus. A simpler science book for use in class-rooms has been published by the United Society for Christian Literature. 13 It is intended to form the basis of future work in science, geography, and hygiene, and has useful illustrations and sketches of simple apparatus. The same publishers have put out a book on Personal Hygiene for Elementary Schools in Africa. The writer, who has had long experience of teaching Africans, has attempted a new approach to hygiene teaching-not through impersonal scientific cause and effect, but through the personal importance of each individual and the care of his body on scientific lines.

Publishers are just beginning to realize that in Africa is an immense potential market for books, hardly touched as yet except in a few of the larger centres, and even there the range of books available is not nearly wide enough. Two new lines of approach in African reading material are evident in the series under review. One is a series of small books on How to do it15 costing only a few pence. Writing Letters in English, The Bicycle, Bees and how to handle them, are the first three titles. They are admirably illustrated and simple in their vocabulary, and should appeal directly to the African's ambition to know. A more advanced series on African Welfare 16 has two volumes published, on The Passing of Polygamy and Water and the Land. In the first, modern marital and sexual relations are very frankly discussed. 10 West Indian Histories. By E. W. DANIEL. Book 1 of the Past. (2s.) Book 2: Migration and Discoveries. (2s. 2d.) Book 3 Story of the West Indian Colonies. (2s. 10d.) (Nelson.)

Pictures

15 The How to do it' Books. 1. The Bicycle. By F. B. MACRAE. 2. Writing Letters in English. By G. A. GOLLOCK. 3. Bees and how to handle them. By F. B. MACRAE. (1 and 2, 4d. net each. 3, 8d. net. United Society for Christian Literature.)

16 African Welfare. 1: The Passing of Polygamy: a Discussion of Marriage and of Sex for African Christians. By H. C. TROWELL. (Is. 6d. net.) 2: Water and the Land. By J. B. CLEMENTS and P. TOPHAM. (Is.) (Oxford University Press.)

The aim of the Journal is to provide practical articles on teaching for the assistance of teachers in their day's work. No. 3

MARCH 1941

VOL. XIII THE INDIAN PUBLIC SCHOOL. IV. The Training of the Emotions. By F. G. Pearce, B.A. BASIC EDUCATION. By J. C. Powell-Price, M.A. THE LABOUR UNIT SCHEME. By K. L. Shrimali, M.A., B.T.

HOME-WORK. By L. B. Harolikar, M.A., B.T.
THE METRICAL STRUCTURE OF ENGLISH VERSE.
By Henry Martin, M.A., O.B.E.

THE ADJUSTMENT OF THE SCHOOL TO THE
CHILD. BY L. P. Bharadwaj, B.A.
THE PLACE OF RELIGION IN EDUCATION. By
J. B. Freeman, M.A., L.T., Ph.D., D.D.
CORRESPONDENCE BOOK REVIEWS

OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS

BOMBAY BRANCH

The second is an introduction to the problem of erosion and how to combat it. It is possibly rather ambitious for a small volume, as it aims at being both scientific and practical. If it is to be read in the class-room it should perhaps have dealt more with scientific principles. If it is intended for farmers and cultivators it needs to be more practical. But the authors, from their long experience of struggling to preserve land and forests from misuse, certainly succeed in emphasizing the dangers of neglect.

Hanahela1 with its humorous illustrations might almost be an African version of Mr. F. L. Brayne's Socrates in an Indian Village. It ought to achieve what is its aim, namely to persuade African villagers to use such knowledge as we can put at their disposal to preserve their land, crops, and herds, without breaking the vital continuity of tribal life. It is just questionable, however, how much the humour in the drawings will appeal to Africans. They might think they were being laughed at, which would be fatal.

19

Two books published by the United Society for Christian Literature are designed specially for teachers. One is a Guide Book for African Teachers 18 written by the Director of Education in Bechuanaland, full of practical suggestions for intending teachers. The other is a series of readings for moral instruction periods in schools. The African teacher needs so much help in his gargantuan task that these two volumes will be specially welcome. A small book on First Aid Supplies 20 will also be useful for the teacher who very often has to use what little knowledge he has in first aid in remote areas.

It is fitting to end this article with a reference to stories from the Life of Dr. Aggrey21 who stands unchallenged as one of Africa's greatest Africans. The danger, which Dr. Aggrey saw and expressed so vividly in many of his talks, was that Africans should tumble headlong into the flood of twentieth century learning, and lose their heritage as Africans, because it was not written in books nor built in monuments. Europeans in the early years of schools in Africa were so convinced that they had all the light and that Africans sat in darkness that the inherited wisdom of the tribes and their elders was in danger of disappearing. Now, fortunately, political theory in the form of Indirect Rule, and educational theory in the form of Begin-whereyou-are, join hands in asserting that Africans need not, and should not, be torn from their tribal heritage. But the demands of modern life are inexorable, and Africans must have the modern skills to be learned from books and classrooms and laboratories, if they are not to be left hopelessly behind in the race. The problems of education in Africa claim the best thought and skill that the West can give them, and the day is already approaching when Africans, spurred on by the example of Dr. Aggrey, can give their contribution to the study and solution of these problems.

On the whole the searchlight of educational research and method has been turned more fully on African schools, perhaps because they were the last to start and the youngest child in the family is always pampered. But other spheres of colonial education are also ripe for overhauling, and the publication of one new series of text-books after another is a sure sign of awakening interest in reform. The day may be approaching when some comparative methods may be used in research in colonial education, when for example knowledge about the relation between higher and technical

17 Hanahela. By A. T. CULWICK. (8d. net. United Society for Christian Literature.)

18 A Guide Book for African Teachers. By H. J. E. DUMBRELL. (2s. net. United Society for Christian Literature.)

19 Character-Building a Series of Readings for Moral Instruction Periods. By J. H. L. BURNS. (9d. net. United Society for Christian Literature.)

20 First Aid Supplies : How to prepare for Accidents and Tropical Diseases. By K. W. TODD. (IS. 6d. net. United Society for Christian Literature.)

21 A Leader of Africa: Stories from the Life Kwegyir Aggrey. Retold by W. M. A. JONES.

of James Emman (IS. Harrap.)

education in Malaya may assist in solving the same kind of problems in the West Indies and West Africa. Perhaps it is not too much to hope for that in these comparisons between policy and practice in different British colonies, some attention may be paid to educational methods in other than British colonies, where the Dutch and the French, among others, have much to teach us. One of the most encouraging signs for the future is the keen interest shown by younger educationists in British colonies in the work of other nations, who share the task which we have taken upon ourselves of helping the more backward' peoples to take their place in the modern world.

THE NEW TESTAMENT IN BASIC ENGLISH By Dr. BASIL YEAXLEE, Reader in Educational Psychology, Oxford University

A NEW translation of its purpose, it maur, for example,

must be judged by its purpose. It may, for example, be an effort to provide a standard version in language more readily understood than Elizabethan English is by most people to-day. Or the first consideration in preparing it may be a precise accuracy in rendering the original, with only secondary regard to beauty of form. But The New Testament in Basic English* has still a third, and hitherto unexampled, characteristic. Aiming also at simplicity of phrasing and thoroughness of scholarship, it is deliberately restricted in vocabulary to the 850 words used in Basic', together with an additional 100 required in poetry and a further 50 regarded as essentially' biblical'. It represents ten years' work on the part of a committee directed by Prof. S. H. Hooke, and has been submitted to the scrutiny of another group of scholars formed by the syndics of the Cambridge University Press.

Everything depends upon the reason for this restriction. Basic English, wrought out by the genius of Mr. C. K. Ogden, of Cambridge, and his Orthological Institute, is intended to be a medium by which people all over the world, possessing but little knowledge of the language, may have access to the more important fruits of our contemporary science and literature, philosophy and art, presented in this simplified way. But those responsible for the introduction of it believe that the great classics of our tradition may also be made available thus to those who otherwise might never become acquainted with them at first hand. Of course the Bible must be included, though the compression of it into this pattern of speech must needs be the most ambitious and difficult task of all for translators. It is true that the Authorized Version owes much to the dignity and rhythm of the Elizabethans, independently of the substance contained in the Hebrew and Greek sources, and this new translation is made direct from those sources themselves, so that there is some ground for maintaining that nothing need be lost. Yet religion, however deeply logical and eminently practical, has also an intrinsically emotional quality. It deals with the beautiful, as well as with the true and the good. It is concerned with the sublime at the same time as with the simple. So the question in this case is how far vocabulary can be restricted, and therefore directness of expression limited, without affecting that part of the meaning which lies in its music.

The translators have made a fine attempt. Here and there they have given us a fresh gem-as for example "love's ways are ever fair" in I Cor. xiii. Some passages are not only more intelligible than in either the Authorized or the Revised Version but have a sustained elevation of style which matches the inspiration of the early writer. Illustrations may be found in such magnificent and therefore testing verses as those which in Gal. v. describe the fruits of the Spirit, or, in Eph. ii., unity in the Spirit. So again the familiar words in I Cor. x. about things lawful and

The New Testament in Basic English: a New Translation. Cambridge University Press in association with Evans Brothers, Ltd. Pocket Edition, 3s. Library Edition, 8s. 6d.

SOIL AND MANURES

expedient become in Basic" We are free to do all things, but there are things which it is not wise to do ". The greater part of Philemon is beautifully phrased, conveying the very essence of Paul's delicately made claim and admonition. In I Cor. xv. his noble reply to questions concerning the resurrection body certainly is not less fine in the dress here given it. Even such pregnant sayings as John iii. 16 (“ For God had such love for the world that He gave his only Son, so that whoever has faith in Him may not come to destruction but have eternal life ") and Mark x. 45 (" For truly the Son of Man did not come to have servants, but to be a servant, and to give His life for the salvation of great numbers of men ") retain their deep significance.

"

"

"

But the ending of this last typifies a weakness in the instrument which the ingenuity and devotion of the translators cannot overcome. Many' is not among the words selected for the Basic vocabulary. A vapid and commonplace circumlocution is the result. Indeed this unnecessary multiplication of words and loss of point are inescapable, because the makers of Basic eschew all but a very few verbs. They therefore cannot say " Ask and it shall be given you", but only "Make a request and it will be answered ". The dramatic touch in the story of Peter's denial is ruined when A cock gave its cry"-and the same is true we read regarding the vehemence of the crowd at the trial of Jesus: "They gave a loud cry, Not this man The encouragement given to Thomas after the Resurrection appears thus, Be no longer in doubt but have belief". Still worse is the rendering of the command to Saul at his conversion : 'Get up and have baptism", or the rendering of “It is hard for thee to kick against the goad", which becomes "It is hard for you to go against the impulse which is driving you". To speak of a greater and better tent not made with hands ” (Heb. ix. 11) is to do violence to something more than euphony. Will' serves throughout the purpose of shall', which is not only confusing but at times ambiguous. There is a transformation of concrete into abstract which is of doubtful legitimacy, as when "to be saved" becomes to have salvation". Is" to have knowledge of God" the same thing as to know God"? Can Paul have meant in Rom. ii. 17 what is suggested by the Basic translation: You. who have the name of Jew and take pride in God, and have knowledge of His desires"? In the Preface there is a sincere disclaimer of any wish to replace the Authorized Version, but that Basic English, with 850 words, is able to give the sense of anything which may be said in English is too great a claim. If words of action so vital to the Gospel as love, believe, forgive, save, cannot be used as verbs, they lose something of both their force and their meaning. Having forgiveness for one another, even as God in Christ had forgiveness for you" is altogether lame.

"

Yet teachers should most certainly possess and use this beautifully produced book. The cost is exceedingly small, and the profit to those who ponder on many of the renderings is great.

By MARY K. HESLOP

THOUGet, prim brook 1 should find a place on the shelves

HOUGH primarily of use to students of agricultural

of all school and college libraries, because of the number and intricacy of the contacts it establishes, the abundance of scientific facts it collects and presents, and the importance of the theme it treats. Part I, an account of the soil, should interest all students of botany, biology, and chemistry, while chapters IV to VI inclusive in Part I, and chapters V and VI in Part II, The Control of the Soil", deal so intimately with the climate, relief, and geology of the British Isles as to be invaluable to the student of geography. Nor is the lay reader's outlook forgotten, for the book deals very clearly with some of those problems which, while they affect and, at times, afflict-the man in the street, are said to be so completely outside his comprehension that his views receive scant attention. Let him read in chapter IV of the effect of climate on the soil and on fertility, and he will see how delicate is the balance between too little enough", and "too much", both of those uncontrollable factors of weather, temperature, rain, frost, drought, and the like, and of the more controllable means by which man is trying to gain mastery over the effects of these variables, and he will inevitably realize how protectively the farmer's judgment, experience and courage commute and modify the harsh processes of Nature and adjust them to the needs of his crops and stock. After two very severe winters, it is consoling to read : 'Under water famine, under snow food.

"

A snow year is a rich year."

Snow, it seems, keeps in cold storage the plant foods accumulated during summer, so that they are available when needed the following spring, while the rain of the mild wet winters to which we are more accustomed washes away the plant foods from the soil, so that the plants start with rather a poor food supply.

Warm, dry summers are as desirable as cold winters with frost and snow, and the discussion of the climatic vagaries given on pages 70 to 80 emphasizes the meaning of changeable weather to the farmer !

"

The book bears the marks of deep intimacy with its topic. Under the heading of "Farming on the Loam a very clear account is given of how the four-course rotation, which depends on the root crop for an opportunity of "cleaning the land", can dispense with that crop on light warm soils when the harvest comes early enough to allow tractors to work on the land and give it a short fallow ere the next cereal crop need be sown. The reader experiences a sense of elation as at the spectacle of a fine adjustment successfully achieved, though the next sentences (page 140) bring something of a chill with : This system can be worked 1 A Student's Book on Soil and Manures. By Sir E. J. RUSSELL. Third Edition, Revised and Rewritten. (8s. 6d. net. Cambridge University Press.)

with a minimum of livestock and of horses, also of men. It is the basis of mechanized farming." With a thought to our empty landscapes and our ever-increasing problem of unemployment, the reader may wonder if some adjustments are too fine to be stable, and reflect that there are alternatives.2

It is

Part III, dealing with fertilizers, should prove of value not only to students but also to practical farmers. backed by all the authority that patient and long-continued research and the vast resources of a great experimental farming station can give, so the statement on page 211, that there is no evidence that organic manures give vitamins or other subtle substances, and experiments so far made show that healthy crops can be grown with standard fertilizers only, and that their food value is the same as that of crops grown with farmyard manure ", rings out in refutation of such views as those voiced by Sir Albert Howard3 that "We must desist from the injurious practice of poisoning our fields with artificial manures!" Surely, it is among experts that the greatest divergence of opinion is found-fortunately, for therein lies a head of energy that will eventually solve the knottiest problems. And surely the way is prepared for such a desirable end by the handsome, far-sighted, and philosophical admission on page 151, in reference to scientific experiments generally, that we see things as through a glass, darkly,' and can never be sure that our explanations are right". From the author of a book that abounds in minute experimental proof wherever possible, this is indeed a “lively sacrifice on the altar of truth.

"

"

2 Mother Earth. By G. W. ROBINSON. to alternate long leys with arable intervals, to improve hill land, plant trees and thus conserve our soil and provide a safe alternative to mechanized farming.'

"

3 Agriculture and the War. By Sir ALBERT HOWARD. Contemporary, October, 1940.

THE SPOKEN WORD

By ELSIE FOGERTY, Principal, The Central School of Speech Training and Dramatic Art

SPE

PEAKING to a group of students, eagerly studying the rhythmic speech of poetry, Richard Church in a beautiful address recently said:

"We believe that from the divine anguish of these hours, now as always, poetry will come forth renewed." Perhaps one sign of such impending renewal is found in the spate of books concerned with speech itself; with the audible movements that give us the power of utterance, and with the incredible range and variety of the elements involved in the perfection of spoken sounds, in significance, and in form.

We have first an assembling of the delightful primers which Anne McAllister has from time to time published for the use of primary teachers in Scotland.1 Gathered into one volume, the series shows the practical' common sense and good method which characterizes the earlier readers. The pages are not burdened with masses of repetitive exercises; beautiful verse is not degraded to the level of "Examples for Practice"; dialect is not invoked as an excuse for faulty speech, but, on the other hand, its splendid renewal value in bringing back vitality to tame and characterless talk is stressed. The vowels are arranged in their proper phonological order, and scientifically defined in the order of the Resonator Scale. The too linguistic complications of the phonetician are avoided. There is only one error here in the admission of a wide lip position on EE' which injures the undertone of the vowel by tightening the throat in its reflex action.

The least satisfactory section is that on "Speech Therapy". This wisely deals with the corrective and educational rather than the clinical and curative side of 1 The Primary Teacher's Guide to Speech Training. By Dr. ANNE H. MCALLISTER. (4s. 6d. net. University of London Press.)

་

the work. The exploded theory of ' left hand' stammering is given too great importance.

"

Under the able editorship of Mr. Compton, Spoken English: its Practice in Schools and Training Colleges covers a wide field. The weakest section is the Introduction, which shows considerable ignorance of the history of modern methods of speech training, and actually dwells on minor, rather than on major considerations. All the sections are cleverly arranged to suggest practice in each successive grade. In School from Five to Seven" (Margaret Chick), Seven to Eleven" (Suzane Brodie), and Fifteen to Leaving Age " (Joyce Welburn) are particularly good, while Harold Ripper introduces a rare and refreshing note of masculinity into the subject. The sections on "Training Colleges and The Voice in Speech and Song "—each the work of well-known experts are excellent. Miss Thurburn's summary of the vocal element clearly defines the principles of phonology in the most explicit manner; there is not a vague or superfluous sentence. Mr. Strong, who has dared to champion the principles of rhythmic diction in the most masterly way, recalls the brilliant days of the Oxford Festivals, and speaks of the value of verse— speaking both as a poet and as a listener.

The papers on the aesthetic side of the subject are naturally less conclusive. They evoke the controversial element of taste. But each is clear and individual. The book concludes with two excellent chapters on subnormal speech-the first covering the educational and corrective side of speech therapy, and the value it has in preventing the development of more serious functional trouble, the second dealing with the more serious and organic side, and compiled by the group of experts who have made the London speech therapy service the foremost in the world, Dr. E. J. Boome, Honor Baines, and Daisy Harries.

The existence of such a book, with its fine bibliography, should go far to place the whole subject on a reasonable and uncontroversial basis in the educational world.

A very different viewpoint marks the example of one of the Psyche Monographs, Vowel Sounds in Poetry. The work is a miracle of typography; one can hardly picture the labour expended on proof correction. Unfortunately it abounds in the mechanistic superstitions of the more selfsufficient phoneticians. This science has held immovably to its false classification of vowels, not by their resonant positions, but on the articulatory action of the tongue : OO' becomes a back, and 'EE' and 'i' front vowels, exactly reversing the nature of the dominant resonation. Actually both terms are misleading, since it is the overtones and undertones in resonation which chiefly concern the student of voice and speech.

The final result of the whole work is rather that of a piano-tuner criticizing, say, Kreisler's performance of a violin concerto.

Daniel Jones has long ago pointed out that the ear method of research, properly applied, gives far better results than the mechanistic. Studio results are particularly untrustworthy, as the oscillograph diagrams recorded by the late J. F. Heard at Slough in the open air demonstrated. The contention in the present monograph, which never mentions rhyme, is that the inherent pitch quality of vowels determines not the assonant or linear structure of the line but the whole logical and emotional content, 'OO' giving an invariable' low mellow sound', suggesting' heavy, rounded bulging or billowy forms', 'heavy scents', &c., and 'i' or 'EE 'a light, clear, distant sound. Thus words like 'deep', 'cleave', 'weep', 'stream', would invariably contradict their own significance; Hamlet's first lines:

would constitute a metrical error on Shakespeare's part, goose', snook', and 'spook' would teem with hidden significance, while goat', polo', and ' flow' would imply slow heavy movement. The innate onomatopoeia of words must remain a dangerous superstition, while 'Nightingale' and Rossignol' alike call up the Bulbul's plaint' to different nations. The French tonic accent in verse would also destroy such a scheme at the very outset. The list of fifty-three vowels presupposes a phonetic industry which we had hardly suspected in our lyrists. The supreme form of English speech-dramatic verse is not specifically referred to. In marked contrast the delightful Key to Speech and Song by Barbara Storey and Elsie Barnard is written with simplicity and grasp of its whole subject. There is much new matter, including some good notes on clerical delivery, and a clear and impartial account of the disadvantages and advantages of broadcasting-a novel addition to the arts of speech and song. The vowel order is too alphabetical, but the main thesis of the book, "Spoken English and music are rhythmically very closely akin ", has rarely been better or more comprehensively discussed.

The speech training of the deaf child has developed in an almost inconceivable way of recent years. It is now a commonplace that very few children are totally deaf; we here' have the case for training to preserve and stimulate residual hearing, by means of amplifiers and ear-training, most ably put. The book will be valuable to those who cannot obtain specialist or institutional training.

4 A Key to Speech and Song. By BARBARA STOREY and ELSIE BARNARD. (5s. net. Blackie.)

5 Speech Training for the Deaf Child.

By SYLVIAN M. MARTIN. (Cloth, 5s. net. Paper, 3s. 6d. net. Allen & Unwin.)

English

The Two Englishes being some Account of the Differences between the Spoken and the Written English Languages

By W. BARKLEY. (2s. 6d. net. Pitman.)

Oure fadir that art in hevenes; halwid be thi name; thi kyngdom cumme to; be thi wille don as in heven and in erthe; gif to vs this day oure breed ouer other substaunce; and forgeue to vs our dettis as we forgeue to our dettours; and leede vs nat in to temptacioun but delyuere vs fro yuel."

"Thaer iz much that miet be dun with advantej in the reform ov speling az to the Ingglish langgwej; but the maen thing iz that whotever mae be propoezd shood be propoezd with the waet ov graet authorrity to bak it." The first quotation is from the Wycliffe Bible of 1360, and the second is what, in reformed spelling, Mr. Gladstone said in 1874. Unfortunately, the immediate reaction of most people to an example of reformed spelling is hostile.

It looks so absurd! Those who have patience to consider the question more carefully are often led to a different conclusion. Reformed spelling already has " a weight of great authority to back it". Many of our foremost scholars and philologists are among its advocates-among others, Prof. Gilbert Murray, Prof. Daniel Jones, Mr. Walter Ripman, Dr. Charles Darwin, Prof. C. E. Spearman, Mr. H. G. Wells, Dr. R. R. Marett, and the Archbishop of York.

This pamphlet sets out the arguments in favour of reform without overlooking the arguments on the other side. The arguments for reform are based upon four large topics-The United Nation; The Future of our Foreign Trade; The Machine of Imperial Government; The Education of our Children. The stock argument that reform would destroy the origin of our words is dealt with effectively. For example, to spell island' without the 's' (the 'n' apparently doesn't matter!) would be to destroy its connexion with the Latin insula. It so happens, however, that the English word is not derived from the Latin, but from a good old English word eyland (compare 'eyot', a small island). The fact that English spelling has so little connexion with spoken English wastes at least a year of school time, and is the one great obstacle to the establishment of English as a common world language. If we could only persuade ourselves to adopt a simply written form of English, we should abolish illiteracy almost overnight and remove the greatest difficulty which foreigners have to face in mastering the language. English is unrivalled in the simplicity of its grammar, but is handicapped by its spelling, which "is rather a disguise than a guide to its pronunciation ".

We hope that this spirited attack upon our illogical and indefensible system of spelling will have a wide circulation, and that it will win for the cause of reform many new adherents.

Beowulf and the Finnesburg Fragment: a Translation into Modern English Prose

By Dr. J. R. CLARK HALL. New Edition, Completely Revised, with Notes and an Introduction, by Professor C. L. WRENN. (7s. 6d. net. Allen & Unwin.) This is a new edition of Dr. Clark Hall's translation of Beowulf into modern prose. It should be of value not only to students of the text but also to the interested general reader. It is true, as Professor Tolkier points out in his important Preface, that no prose translation can adequately give the metre of Beowulf, nor render faithfully its specially poetic qualities". Yet, without some such help as this translation provides, Beowulf must remain a closed book to the vast majority of English readers. Certainly this rendering has caught not merely the impressive matter of the poem but its dark and sinister atmosphere. The valuable notes and introduction are by Professor C. L. Wrenn.