ENGLISH PROSE

(1) English Prose Style. By H. READ. (9s. net. Bell.) (2) Prose of To-day. (2s. 6d. Best Edition, 3s. 6d. net. Longmans.)

No subject is more alluring to the student of letters than the subject of style, and none is more full of pitfalls for the ambitious as well as for the unwary writer. Whether meditation upon the theme induces self-consciousness, or whatever the true explanation may be, certain it is that two such notable practitioners of the art as Walter Pater and the late Sir Walter Raleigh never provided so many openings for hostile criticism as when they set themselves to write upon the virtues of style. One can pay no higher compliment to Mr. Read (1) than to say that he emerges triumphantly from the ordeal to which his choice of a subject exposes him. His own style throughout is natural, clear, dignified and yet simple. It may be that he succumbs just once to the temptation of paradox, when he affirms that prose is more dependent upon rhythm than poetry, because poetry may inhere in the single word, the single syllable, whereas prose does not begin till we hear combined words in a phrase, and that has always a rhythm. Remembering Tennyson's praise of Virgil, "All the charm of all the muses often flowering in a lonely word," who shall say that Mr. Read is wrong? And yet, does the "lonely word" really flower apart from its context, the rhythm of its phrase?

Mr. Read would seem to have steeped himself before writing in some of the most pregnant and illuminative sayings about style and criticism, and in a large and representative collection of the most successful passages of English prose. Bearing his sentences in mind-such a sentence, for example, as this of Hume," No criticism can be instructive which descends not to particulars and is not full of examples and illustrations and setting.in array his models as they illustrate different aspects of his theme, he pursues a very practical enquiry into the requisites of a good prose style. It is interesting to find that the authors who, on one ground or another, win his special commendation, are Milton, Swift, Sterne, Bunyan, Southey, Sir Henry Maine, Doughty, and Henry James. Mr. Kipling and Mr. Winston Churchill are among those who are tried by his tests and found wanting. It is suggested that the something lacking to perfect success in the work of two non-native writers of English, Conrad and Santayana, is due to their having mastered the rhythm of the sentence but not of the paragraph. Mr. Read's analysis is very searching. No practitioner of the art of writing, however experienced, could fail to derive benefit from a study of it. And his collection of illustrative extracts is itsel' a charming prose anthology.

It would be both amusing and profitable to apply Mr. Read's tests to (2), the long-expected volume of “ Prose of To-Day," chosen by the publications committee of the English Association. The range of passages is wide, and the temptation to select only or chiefly "purple patches " has been nobly resisted. Prose for working days is exemplified, as well as prose for holy-days. In an educational journal it may not be irrelevant to suggest that the teacher has here at his command a storehouse of material for dictation lessons and for précis far better than many collections made specifically with these objects in view.

There are fifty-nine authors represented by extracts varying in length from 500 to 1,500 words. Some famous names are absent, Mr. Kipling's for one. All the extracts are from copyright matter, and the omission of a great name must mean that permission has been refused. As anthologists multiply, men of letters may be inclined more and more to look upon them as voracious birds, and to beat them off as harpies from the feast. But the anthologists of the English Association have no personal ends to

serve, and the schoolboys and schoolgirls who, through this book and Poems of To-Day," are shown the attractiveness of the best contemporary writing are the potential book-buyers of the next thirty years. The living author has everything to gain from the spread of the doctrine that literature is a living thing which is still being produced by and for the men and women of to-day. If some of the writers here-Samuel Butler, Conrad, C. M. Doughty, Gertrude Bell, Thomas Hardy, Katherine Mansfieldare no longer with us, their memory is so recent that they still belong to the present. The brief biographies prefixed add much to the usefulness of the collection.

A STUDY IN CONTRASTS Educational Psychology: An Objective Study. By Prof. P. SANDIFORD. (10s. 6d. Longmans.)

The Philosophical Bases of Education. By Dr. R. R. RUSK, (5s. net. University of London Press.)

On its own lines and in its own way, Prof. Sandiford's is a remarkably efficient piece of work. The qualification is important, for the sub-title of the book, an objective study," is not a mere form of words, but a stern reality. Prof. Sandiford throws overboard entirely the older introspective psychology, which he briefly dubs a failure, and devotes himself to a psychology of which J. B. Watson's behaviourism is the extreme form. The stimulus or situation and the response: that is what psychology is all about, if it is to be a truly scientific psychology, and that is the only sort of psychology that Prof. Sandiford has any use for the only sort that he will even allow to be called psychology. So we miss much that we have been accustomed to expect in a book bearing the title educational psychology.' What we get is a preliminary exposition of the working of the human machine, and then, in a series of quite admirable chapters, an account of the experimental work which has been done on "the learning process." Of course Prof. Sandiford, like any other writer of a text-book, is largely occupied in putting together the results of other men's labours, and the putting together, the selection and explanation, is thoroughly well done. But he is not a mere hewer of wood and drawer of water. He exercises a discriminating judgment at every point, and effectively puts his reader in possession of the present position with regard to educational psychology as he conceives it. As he conceives it-there's the rub.

Toronto and Glasgow are far apart-too far to permit the hope that Prof. Sandiford and Dr. Rusk might have a friendly duel in the presence of their compeers. Perhaps the antagonism would be less marked if Prof. Sandiford would admit that his work is a "response

to an abstract situation" which he, and those who think with him, have created; and that nowhere does it correspond with the concrete situation" to be found in any schoolroom. Even if he did make the admission, Dr. Rusk would probably retort that he should not only make it, but also insist upon it, in order to avoid even the appearance of evil. Dr. Rusk points out that behaviourism may explain how an animal meets a situation, but man can create a situation; and this is beyond the scope of a behaviourist psychology to explain. It may account for the behaviour of animals, but not for the conduct of man. We cannot here follow in detail Dr. Rusk's most interesting and timely reminder that behind every important reform movement in education there lurks, mostly unrecognized, a philosophy of education, which should be made explicit. He shows up the shortcomings of naturalism and pragmatism-which are really at the basis of some important educational proposals, and contends for idealism as the only adequate philosophy,

These two books taken together are, to the thoughtful reader between the lines, complementary. Prof. Sandiford has come under the full influence of " a flood of intelligence

from Albert Sorel's 'L'Europe et la Révolution Française." Selected and Edition by H. L. HUTTON. Édition Autorisée. (2s. 6d. Nelson.)

have appeared since 1918, and covers a large part of postwar prose. One of the Proust extracts has already appeared in the Oxford Press selection, but most of the others will be new to students who have not seen 'French Prose of To-day." Miss Anderson's edition of Geffroy's "Cécile Pommier" is the story of a simple French working girl which would interest a middle form in a girls' school. But does Miss Anderson really consider " that goes without saying "the best translation of cela va de soi? The manual of Free Composition is an introduction to a very difficult part of French tuition and may be of service in ameliorating the present very low standard of excellence in this subject. The last of the series is an elementary reader for those who have worked through the first course. It includes llustrations and a full vocabulary.

OUR KNOWLEDGE OF THE COSMOS Eos or The Wider Aspects of Cosmogony. By Sir J. H. JEANS. (2s. 6d. net. Kegan Paul.)

Sir James Jeans, as befits an astronomer, has added a star of the first magnitude to that already brilliant constellation known as the "To-day and To-morrow" series. Unlike most of his fellow-authors, however, he has confined himself to the narration of scientific facts and such inferences as he thinks may properly be drawn from them; a limitation which, for most of us, adds to the fascination of his book. Interest in scientific cosmogony," as Sir James justly says, " is a recent and still a very tender growth," but cosmological speculation is as old as civilization. Yet here, at least, truth is stranger than fiction, and one can only wish that some of the astronomers of bygone days might by astrological magic have had the opportunity of reading this amazing story. How Omar Khayyam would have welcomed it we can easily imagine; perhaps it would have altered the philosophy of the Rubáiyát. For Sir James's most arresting statement is that everything points with overwhelming force to a definite event, or series of events, of creation at some time or times, not infinitely remote. He definitely rejects, too, the possibility that the universe originated by chance out of its present ingredients, and shows that it cannot always have been the same as it is now. It will end, at some immensely remote period, in a cool glow of radiation uniformly diffused through space. These are not the vapourings of a fertile imagination, but logical inferences from established scientific facts. They must therefore inevitably shape all future systems of philosophy, and even now the pregnant question arises of the cause or circumstance of the first creation. If the universe is " a partially wound-up clock, which must, at some time in the past, have been wound up in some manner unknown to us, we have a legitimate field for both present speculation and future research; and the conclusion is one which religious thought cannot ignore.

"

While the probability that the universe was created at some definite time in the past is the most striking of Sir James's conclusions, there are many others scarcely less compelling. We read with wonder that the sun weighed 360,000 million tons more yesterday than it does to-day, that it will nevertheless last for many millions of millions of years more, and that it was probably formed between 7 and 8 million million years ago during the break-up of a spiral nebula. The planets are comparatively modern, having been born from a tidal wave on the sun only about 2,000 million years ago; the earth will possibly be habitable by man for a further period of equal length. Planets of other suns are very rare; there are, at a moderate computation, not more than 10,000 planetary systems in the 1,000 million stars surrounding our sun. Whether life exists in other parts of the universe or not it is impossible to say, but Sir James concludes that it does not at present look as though Nature had designed the universe primarily for life, which appears to be but the end of a chain of by-products. What is man, that Thou art mindful of him ?

Mass Education in England: A Critical Examination of Problem and Possibility. By Dr. J. H. GARRETT. (3s. 6d. Burrow.) A highly provocative book which will doubtless be answered at an early date. Dr. Garrett, for twenty years School Medical Officer at Cheltenham, makes a vigorous attack upon the recent report of the Consultative Committee on the Education of the Adolescent, mainly on the ground that it ignores, first, the low educability of 50 per cent of the children; and, secondly, the compulsory nature of their after-lives as seen in the occupational census. In his view, education is nothing more than the preparation of the individual to earn his living, hence for half the population a few years' instruction in the three R's is all that is required. Dr. Garrett entirely ignores the fact that the after-lives of even the least intelligent include many hours of leisure, and that it is of vital importance, not only to the individual but also to the community, that they should be educated for this leisure as well as for the means of livelihood. No doubt a certain type of employer will welcome the book with its outspoken defence of industrialism, but few educationists will agree that "the industries of this country afford a variety of magnificent academies for the education of the populace.'

An Adventure with Children. By MARY H. LEWIS. (бs. 6d. net. New York: Macmillan.)

Cheiron's Cave-The School of the Future: an Educational Synthesis based on the New Psychology. By DOROTHY REVEL. (7s. 6d. net. Heinemann.)

Of these two books describing modern experimental schools, the first, from America, is the simpler and less revolutionary. The author has no new theories to expound, but lets the facts of her experiment speak for themselves. Early in her teaching she discovered the disadvantages of the excellently-equipped expensive school, where everything, including play, was readymade and standardized. Experience in an open-air school with the scantiest equipment revealed to her the children's need; in making their own school and its furniture, its garden and rabbit-hutches, they learned to be ingenious because of the poverty of their equipment, and in the atmosphere of freedom and opportunity they learned to love work. Miss Lewis continued to experiment on these lines, and in twelve years had a successful school of 220 children, ranging from kindergarten to college, ideally set in a sixty-acre farm. But the fascination of the story lies not in the achievement, but in the years of experiment and growth, and the continual confirmation of Dewey's belief that children learn only by doing. The second book is by the senior mistress of Mr. Faithfull's school, Priory Gate, and is consequently full of theory, on psycho-analytic lines. Part I explains such terms as libods, extraversion and introversion, the recapitulatory theory, parent attachments, with considerable lucidity and many illustrations from the author's experience. Part II describes the educational practice of the Priory Gate school, where children are given the freedom and joy of selfeducation in natural surroundings." The various stages of growth are dealt with separately under the terms used by the order of woodcraft chivalry-elves, all ages up to 8; woodlings, 8-12; trackers, 12-15; pathfinders, 15-18; while the final chapter is devoted to a training for teachers which is reminiscent of the discipline of the Samurai. The principle of co-education is evidently carried further at Priory Gate than in most mixed schools. Both these books are illustrated with delightful photographs.

"

The New Physical Education: a Program of Naturalized Activities for Education Toward Citizenship. By Prof. T. WOOD and Prof. ROSALIND F. CASSIDY. (10s. New York: Macmillan.) There has for some time been a demand for an authorized text-book describing the naturalized system of physical training taught at Teachers' College, Columbia University. Its supporters claim that the traditional physical education has been too much occupied with formal exercises that are either artificial or merely corrective, and that far better results, mental as well as physical, can be achieved by natural, spontaneous, and enjoyable activities. Very careful experimental work on these lines has been carried on during the last fifteen years, and this book summarizes the results, and offers a detailed curriculum in "naturalized activities" for the elementary school. The theory underlying the practice is emphasized throughout, and the book is attractively written and printed; it also contains an excellent list of source materials, as well as an exhaustive bibliography.

Adult Learning. By E. L. THORNDIKE, ELSIA O. BREGMAN, J. W. TILTON, and ELLA WOODYARD. (10s. net. New York: Macmillan.)

Readers of the (British) Journal of Adult Education will recall the contributions of Profs. Peers and Spearman to the problems whether education, as usually understood, can profitably be carried on beyond adolescence into adult life. Prof. Spearman ended his article entitled, “What is really wrong with Adults? by saying that what is wanted is "genuinely scientific research in the psychology of abilities and disabilities." In the volume before us, published under arrangement with the American Association for Adult Education, the well-known Prof. Thorndike presents the results of a psychological inquiry into the facts concerning changes in the amount and changes in the nature of ability to learn from about age 15 to about age 45, and especially from age 25 to age 45. The instructed in such matters will be prepared to find that much of the report is of a very technical nature. But other people also will be interested in the general conclusion that " nobody under 45 should restrain himself from trying to learn anything because of a belief or fear that he is too old to be able to learn it." Probably such a man as Dr. Mansbridge, our apostle of adult education, has little use for these technical inquiries, but prefers to get on with the job, and make his psychology as he goes. At present there is something to be said on both sides. On the psychological side this book is a very important contribution to the subject. Creative Education at an English School. By J. H. WHITEHOUSE. (16s. net. Cambridge University Press.)

"

This altogether delightful book might alternatively be described as the record of an organized attempt to enlist the pupil's creative or constructive instinct in the cause of his education, or as containing everything that a school can do for a boy except help him to pass his examinations. It is a rare experience to take up a book on education in which the word examination does not even occur. Whether the experience is exhilarating or depressing depends upon the mood of the moment. To us it has been both in turns. Is Mr. Whitehouse right in placing art and craftsmanship, not among the trivial extras or pastimes, but in the place of honour? If he is right, the prevailing system of secondary education cannot also be right. It would be interesting to hear a debate between Mr. Whitehouse, author of this book, and Dr. Norwood, author of the recent address delivered at Glasgow. The latter could not consistently agree with the former about the place of honour. Meantime, success to the Bembridge experiment! And may every one who has something so interesting and original and unorthodox to contribute, come forward with it as Mr. Whitehouse has done.

"

Tyrannies of the School. By C. W. BAILEY. (2s. 6d. net. Blackie.) Parents and the Pre-School Child. By Prof. W. E. BLATZ and HELEN MCM. BOTT. (бs. net. Dent.)

Parents and Teachers: A Survey of Organized Co-operation of Home, School, and Community. Prepared under the Auspices of the National Congress of Parents and Teachers, and Edited by MARTHA S. MASON. (8s. 6d. net. Ginn.)

IRISH SCHOOLMASTERS' ASSOCIATION.-The annual meeting of the Irish Schoolmasters' Association, representing the Church of Ireland and other Protestant secondary schools, was held on October 27. The Rev. C. B. Armstrong, Warden of St. Columba's College, was elected president, and the Rev. T. J. Irwin, vice-president. The principal resolution at public business condemned in strong terms the trend of secondary education in the Free State, under the present regulations (notably compulsory Irish), and urged a modification which would allow the classics and modern foreign languages a proper place in the curriculum. Some remarkable statistics were given of the decline of the study of French and German, which have almost disappeared from the schools: and it was also observed that under the old optional system, even so far back as 1904, the number of candidates in Irish was 1,630, whereas in 1928 it was only increased to 2,194. A second resolution pressed for the immediate establishment of the long-deferred pension scheme; and a third maintained that the conditions for registration as a secondary teacher are too exacting in the Irish Free State. The retiring president-Mr. H. S. R. Pyper-referred in his address to the notable work accomplished for the Association by Mr. John Thompson during his term as secretary.

Plain Prose: The Elements of a Serviceable Style. By W. E. WILLIAMS. (3s. 6d. Methuen.)

An interesting and comprehensive book. The author compares and contrasts prose writing with poetry and deals with the attributes which help in the making of good prose. Many illustrative passages are quoted throughout and in the last chapter the reader is referred to the writings of those authors, including men of our own time, whose works will repay his study. It is a little surprising to find the author lending his countenance to so ugly a form as belles lettrists"; surely the English language could do better than this!

"

Men and Women of the Middle Ages. By DOROTHY M. STUART. (Is. 6d. Harrap.)

The Middle Ages are made to live again in the pages of this book. We meet the tillers of the soil, the craftsmen, players, poets, and their womenkind and our interest is heightened by the skilful way in which contemporary illustrations have been interspersed throughout the text.

(1) A London Anthology. Edited by N. G. BRETT-JAMES. (2s. 6d. Harrap.)

(2) (3) The Comedy of Life: from Richardson, Fielding, Smollett, Goldsmith, Sterne. Rogues and Vagabonds: from Swift, Bunyan, Defoe, Francis Godwin, Henry Neville, and Aphra Behn. Selected, with Introduction, Notes, and Tables, by R. B. JOHNSON. (3s. 6d. each. Lane.)

(4) Selected Letters of Byron. Edited by V. H. COLLINS. (4s. 6d. net. Clarendon Press.)

Mr. Brett-James's anthology (1) would make an excellent reading-book for London schools. The extracts range from the Anglo-Saxon chronicle to George Gissing and " John o' London.', and prose and verse are pleasingly alternated; (2) and (3) belong to Mr. Brimley Johnson's new series of group-selections made to illustrate the development of English literature; (2) contains extracts from Bunyan, Defoe, Swift, Aphra Behn; (3) from Richardson, Fielding, Smollett, Sterne, Goldsmith. Boty volumes have instructive introductions. Byron (4) is admittedly one of the best of English letter-writers. Mr. Collins's selection makes good reading.

The Writing of English. By G. BOAS. (2s. 6d. Longmans.)

A manual of composition suitable for the middle forms of the secondary school. Instructions and exercises exhibit much resourcefulness and vivacity, helpful both to teacher and pupil. The Lost Fight. By H. F. M. PRESCOTT. (7s. 6d. net. Constable.)

Miss Prescott stepped into the front rank of historical novelists with her twelfth-century story of "The Unhurrying Chase." "The Lost Fight " is a tragic tale of the next century, the period of Frederick II, Stupor Mundi. The scenes are laid partly in France, partly in Cyprus. A fine and delicate imagination, deep ethical feeling, historical learning which is always evident yet never displayed, and a sure mastery of style, combine to make a book of rare beauty.

Apostate. By F. REID. (3s. 6d. net. Constable.)

Forrest Reid's " Apostate," recently added to the " Constable's Miscellany "series of reprints, is a beautifully written account of his childhood and adolescence. A particularly introspective and thoughtful boy, we are shown his early upbringing in Belfast as the youngest of a large family. As a child he evinced a marked distaste for the religion of his elders and retained a strong prejudice against orthodox Christianity throughout his life. He is a pagan in spirit and outlook, and it is among the classic Greeks with their pantheism and beauty worship that he is most at home. His style is calm, unhurried, and poetical, and many of the passages possess the sad charm characteristic of Charles Lamb. The Beacon Study Readers. Edited by F. ROSCOE. (First Lessons, IS. 4d. Book One, Is. 6d. Teachers' Manual for First Lessons and Book One, 2s. Book Two, Is. 9d. Book Three, 2s. Teachers' Manual for Books Two and Three, 2s. Ginn.) The Beacon Readers, now so widely used, had for their main object mechanical proficiency in reading, with, as ultimate aim, the enjoyment of and appreciation of literature; this new series, which is to accompany, not supplement or displace the earlier one, and is likely to become equally popular, has a quite other object. Experience is showing that young children need more systematic guidance than they have hitherto received in the understanding and use of words as vehicles of ideas and information, in order that they may themselves acquire the power to use words " as symbols of reality, sharp in their outline and clear in their meaning." This power the new series aims at cultivating. From the age of 6 or 7 to the time when the pupil is expected to be able to use the formal text-book as the basis

of all his work, the Study Readers are designed to enable the child to gain information from his books for himself, to make up questions and answers, to pick out and arrange facts in order of importance, to summarize what he has read. The subjectmatter of this series is necessarily different, as it must be such that the child's own mental activity can be constantly called into play in connexion with the actual text, and, if the teacher acts upon the suggestions given under the headings "Related Activities," in countless other directions as well. B. F. L's illustrations in the two first volumes are charming.

A Book of Knights. By ELIZABETH D'OYLEY.
Glasgow Holmes.)

(IS. 6d. Bell.

Lost in London. By H. STRANG. (IS. Oxford University Press.) Mr. Herbert Strang has an established reputation as a writer of tales for youth, but it is somewhat of a feat even for him to have produced a readable story for children of 12 with so unusual and unpromising a historical background as the South Sea Bubble and the other equally mad and unsuccessful speculations of that time. Into such a story it must have required no little skill to introduce an episode as exciting as Dormer's perilous climb to the rescue of his imprisoned schoolfellow. Nelson's Infant Reading Practice. By VERA PATMORE. 1. The Four Jolly Rabbits and the Cabbage Patch. 2. Snowball: a Tale of Santa Claus. 3. Marigold's Wishbone. 4. The Island Where Things Come Right. 5. The Ginger Kitten's Diary. 6. The Treasure Hunt. (Paper, 4d. each. Cloth, 6d. each. Nelson.)

It is gratifying to find such a number of cheap books, carefully adapted both in subject and language to their little readers, being constantly brought out to supplement the regular Class Readers. Of this set of six, rightly described as bright, new stories," (1) and (5) are the most attractive as tales, and these also have the jolliest illustrations. As the children are expected to copy many of the details of the pictures, these might perhaps have had more definitely defined outlines and less shading. Marriage. By SUSAN E. FERRIER. (2s. net. Dent.)

"

"

"

The inclusion of Susan Ferrier's Marriage in the famous "Everyman's Library should be a means of introducing this delightful comedy-in-narrative to many who have not yet discovered its charms. Sir Walter Scott was among the first to acknowledge the merits of the book and he commended it "as a very lively work." Marriage" is not so much a novel as a series of character sketches based on caricature and exaggeration. The story itself is slight, but we forget this in our enjoyment of the portraitures of the three aunts, of Lady McLaughlin, of Dr. Redgill, whose voracious appetite was unbounded, of Mrs. Fox, absorbed in the work of "charity,” of Mrs. Pullens who " mainly relied for fame on her unrivalled art in keepings things long beyond the date assigned by nature," and of many another of whom the tale is told.

A Book of Broadsheets. (7s. 6d. net. Methuen.)

The anthology contained in this volume is a reproduction of the pocket literature provided by The Times for the men in the trenches during the early days of the War. Every item was printed in the form of a "broadsheet ”—a single page of thin paper suitable for inclusion in a letter-and distributed in. hundreds of thousands to the forces. Mr. Bruce Richmond, of The Times Literary Supplement, and Sir Walter Rayleigh, Professor of English Literature at Oxford, were mainly responsible for the selection of the items, although many interesting suggestions came from the men themselves. The collection is varied and extensive, and maintains a high standard throughout. The Clarendon Readers in Literature and Science. Edited by J. C. SMITH. Book III. (3s. 6d. Oxford University Press.) This is an admirable selection. The editor is definitely opposed to the view that pupils of 12 to 15 years of age should gain their knowledge of English prose by continuous reading alone. The extracts cater for all interests, and the boy or girl of a scientific turn of mind has received generous consideration.

The Tidy Wood. By EVELYN M. WHITAKER. (7d. Nelson.) Reading and Thinking. Edited by Dr. R. WILSON. Book VI.

A Collection of Prose and Verse Designed to Conduct the Reader to the Open Door of the Library. (2s. 10d. Nelson.) The Silver Thorn: A Book of Stories. By H. WALPOLE. (7s. 6d. net. Macmillan.)

The Kingsway Examination Tests in English. Teacher's Edition. (2s. 6d. net. Evans.)

Summer School Papers: Animal, Vegetable, and General. By E. BELL. (2s. net. Bell.)

Richardson. By B. W. DowNS. (6s. net. Routledge.)

Familiar Letters on Important Occasions. By S. RICHARDSON. (10s. 6d. net. Routledge,)

The Age of Addison. By ANNA M. PAGAN. (Is. 3d. Blackie.)
Blackie's English-Study Readers. Fifth Reader. (2s. 9d. Blackie.)
Contemporary Movements in European Literature. Edited by
Dr. W. ROSE and J. ISAACS. (10s. 6d. net. Routledge.)
A Survey of English Literature, 1730-1780. By Prof. O. ELTON.
In two volumes. (32s. net. Arnold.)
What is Love? By E. M. DELAFIELD. (7s. 6d. net. Macmillan.)
A Dictionary of Correct English: A Manual of Information and
Advice Concerning Grammar, Idiom, Use of Words, Points
of Style, Punctuation, Spelling, and Other Practical Matters.
By M. A. PINK. (2s. 6d. net. Pitman.)

The English Language. By E. WEEKLEY. (6d. Benn.)
The Structure of the Novel. By E. MUIR. (3s. 6d. The Hogarth
Press.)

A Book of Essays. Selected by H. BARNES. (Is. 6d. Harrap.)
The Merging of Ronald Letheredge. By P. L. MARKS. (3s. 6d. net.
Robert Scott.)

Jungle John: A Book of the Big-Game Jungles. Abridged. By J. BUDDEN. With Notes and Questions by T. H. ALLEN. (2s. Longmans.)

The General's Ring. By SELMA LAGERLÖF. (3s. 6d. Werner Laurie.)

Lovers and Luggers. By G. SLADE. (7s. 6d. net. Werner Laurie.) Selected Addresses and Essays. By Viscount HALDANE. (6s. net. Murray.)

Dryden. Preface to the Fables. Edited, with an Introduction, by W. P. KER and Notes by M. G. LLOYD-THOMAS. (IS. Clarendon Press.)

An Elementary Middle English Grammar. By Dr. J. WRIGHT and ELIZABETH M. WRIGHT. Second Edition. (7s. net. Oxford University Press.)

"

The English Stage. By Prof. A. NICOLL. (6d. net. Benn.) No part of this fascinating account of the staging of plays in England demonstrates better the author's skill in condensation than paragraphs 2 and 3 of Chapter VI, which discuss the leading features of Pseudo-Classicism and Romanticism; none is so enlightening, and, also, so contentious as his last chapter The Modern Period." From this it appears that, though one of two great innovators at the present day is an Englishman, yet, owing to our dislike to making experiments, we lag behind the Continent in scenic art and are content with outworn traditions in the production of plays.

With Pipe and Tabor: Junior Class-Room Plays. Compiled by R. MOORHOUSE. (IS. 4d. Dent.)

Very brief plays designed for use in the class-room by little children. Their author's understanding of the child-mind, and his poetic sympathies, make the playlets" excellent for their purpose.

The Silver Books of Children's Verse. Book II. Arranged by F. JONES. (Is. 3d. Blackie.)

This delightful mixture, for children of from 7 to 11, of old and new, grave and gay, is well printed and firmly bound. Most of the pieces are short, but room has been found for Wilfred Wilson Gibson's narrative poem, The Shop," and for Anstey's amusing "The Wreck of the Steamship Puffin." Little Bateese," supposed to be told in broken English by a French Canadian, is quite new.

Drama: A Guide for Beginners at Criticism. By J. R. WILLIAMS. (2s. Longmans.)

Mr. Williams has contributed a useful little volume to the series of introductory books issued primarily for the use of

W.E.A. students. He writes on the drama in a very attractive manner, and his analysis of different types of plays, both ancient and modern, under the headings of Tragedy, Comedy, Social Drama, &c., should be of service to every one interested in the subject.

An Anthology of School: Being a Selection of English Poems on School, Schoolboys, and Schoolmasters. Chosen and edited, with Notes and an Introduction by C. S. HOLDER. (7s. 6d. net. The Bodley Head.)

Mr. Holder's anthology breaks new ground, for it is not a mere collection of school songs, but includes poems in any way bearing upon school life and upon boys and girls in relation to their teachers. The gathering is a large and comprehensive one, and the chief criticism to which it is exposed is that the poetical standard is not kept high enough. To enforce a good standard would not be easy, for it might involve disappointing some famous schools, and the compiler of such a collection is bound to attach importance to historical associations. Yet one may doubt whether he has made the best use of his opportunities. The great day schools do not seem to be represented. Manchester Grammar School has, or had, some excellent songs, for several of which John Farmer composed music. Clifton High School has a beautiful Rose Song written by its first headmistress, Miss Woods. J. H. Skrine wrote some really poetical songs for Uppingham.

Myrtella: A Romance of Ancient Greece. By B. MORE. (I Dollar. Boston. The Cornhill Publishing Co.) The words of the dedication of this poem to a gentleman, "whose heart is in poetry and whose poetry is Art," caused the reader some degree of apprehension as to the author's sensitiveness to sound. It is enough to say that the apprehension was fully justified, and that there seems to be no reason to suppose that English lovers of poetry will agree with the many in America, who, so we are told, hail this as "the greatest narrative poem that has been written in the English language during the twentieth century."

Poetic Values: A Guide to the Appreciation of the Golden Treasury. By E. A. G. LAMBORN. (3s. 6d. net. Oxford University Press.)

Mr. Lamborn's book is a stimulating companion to the "Golden Treasury." His introduction is provocative if not altogether convincing. To claim that the fact that Shakespeare wrote in verse may be taken as an indication that he did not mean to give us real' persons seems to be a contention that could be sustained with difficulty, and it also seems unnecessary to suppose that because a speech is spoken in the quavering accents of an old woman it must of necessity lose all its charm as spoken verse. It would be interesting to know how the writer would reconcile this view with Shakespeare's remarks on the purpose of playing. In the same way throughout, the reader cannot remain passive, he or she is either moved to cordial agreement, or to active protest, and in the latter case challenged to produce the grounds for the attitude. No higher praise could be given to a book of this type.

Poems. By W. E. CHASE. ($2. W. E. Chase, Madison, Wisconsin.)

The Second Book of School Plays: Plays With Music. The Third Book of School Plays: Plays for the Younger Ones. (2s. 6d. net. each. Evans.)

Timon of Athens. By Prof. E. H. WRIGHT. (2s. 6d. Heath.) The Merry Wives of Windsor. Edited by G. B. HARRISON and F. H. PRITCHARD. (IS. Harrap.)

More Little Plays for Little Actors. By ETHEL M. WARD. (Is. 6d. net. Chambers.)

Lyrical Poetry from Blake to Hardy. By Prof. H. J. C. GRIERSON. Phases of English Poetry. By H. READ. (3s. 6d. The Hogarth Press.)

The Aeneid of Virgil. Translated, with an Introductory Essay, by F. RICHARDS. (15s. net. Murray.) Readings from British Drama: Extracts from British and Irish Plays. By Prof. A. NICOLL. (10s. 6d. net. HARRAP.) The Shoemaker and the Elves, and Dick Whittington. Two Plays in Verse by ELIZABETH F. MATHESON. (Paper, 4d. Limp Cloth, 6d. Oxford University Press.)

Matthew Arnold. Sohrab and Rustum, The Scholar Gipsy, Thyrsis, Balder Dead, Tristram and Iseult, The Forsaken Merman. Edited by G. E. HOLLINGWORTH. (Cloth, 2s. 9d. Paper, 2s. 3d. University Tutorial Press.)

A Poetry Book for Boys and Girls. Compiled by A. WATSON BAIN. Part III. (3s. 6d. Cambridge University Press.)