Sing with such outstanding works of the dramatic heart and mind as the Book of Job, the 'Prometheus Bound' of Eschylus, and Lear,' the author proceeds to study such modern efforts as Ibsen's 'Peer Gynt' and 'Brand,' Tolstoi's and Mr Galsworthy's sociological plays, Mr Shaw's later and better efforts, and 'The Dynasts.' To a large extent his choice is arbitrary, and the gulf between the earliest and latest plays is almost too wide to treat in one volume; but yet his evidence proves that ever since thoughts have found dramatic expression the stage has exerted a religious and ethical influence of outstanding power. The trouble is that in later days it has lost the old largeness. In the beginning it dealt with the divine; the inevitableness of human failure, the sorrows of heroes, the sadness of the hearts of autocratic kings; whereas now the mightiest actor on the mimic stage is some fretful Napoleon of the little life, or such sentimental criminals as triumph and suffer in Mr Galsworthy's police-ridden plays. At the back of the author's mind is the thought that, compared with the moving force of the great plays for touching the religious heart, what are the conventional pulpits and sermons? Something of that feeling is true; but all pulpits are not wooden; and a good many plays, forgetting the divine purposes, have the solidity of A Little Bit of Fluff.'

We remain with a great dramatic theme, for the next work carries us to that early stage of British life when Pagan jostled Christian and monsters abounded. Far too little is read, even by the community of letters, of the vast legacy of literature, heroic and religious, in prose or verse, which was sung and copied in the young days of England; although, in recent years, efforts have been made to revive and make familiar those treasures. The latest of these restorations has been given to us by Prof. Sir Archibald Strong, whose translation of 'Beowulf' (Constable) into vigorous flowing verse, appropriate to the theme, has been introduced by Dr R. W. Chambers. Cordial praise is due to this rimed version which, certainly, with all its necessary diversities from the style of the original, loses nothing of the sweep and energy of the poem. The metre used is a slightly modified form of the long,

swinging rimed couplet, first used with mastery in English by William Morris in 'Sigurd the Volsung,' and, unquestionably, whether Sir Archibald Strong's verses are read aloud or enjoyed in the soundful silence of the mind, they ring. As should be so with poetry of this character, the clashing of sword and axe, the roaring of the monster, the hurtle of battle, and the cries of the warriors, are actual.

A Dictionary written by one hand is a prodigious enterprise, yet it seems that Mr Laurie Magnus has accomplished the task. His 'Dictionary of European Literature' (Routledge) is no mere compilation of paste, scissors, and intellectual red-tape; but, so far as we have tested, has been freshly put together, while the writing is often pleasant. Of course, with such a bold endeavour there must be occasional misjudgments and slips of opinion and fact. It is, for example, in treating of Guy de Maupassant, absurd to mention his long novels, such as 'Une Vie,' which generally are unwieldy and illbalanced, and to ignore the short stories that were his greatness. Boule de Suif' is one of the finest short stories written. It has no mention here. As to the omissions, Mrs Lynn Linton is in, while J. M. Synge is out; and as to the errors in fact, the John Murray mentioned was not the Founder of the publishing house, but his son; and the business was started in 1768, not in 1812. Moreover, while still our disposition is critical, let us say that the abbreviations are sometimes tiresome. Unfind' for 'unfinished' is a poor thing; and there are too many such. They spoil the ease and pleasure of the reading; for often the biographical sketches are excellently put together and phrased, and an intrusive abruptness is a blot. The articles on Rousseau, Irony, Francis Thompson, Flaubert, Tennyson, are among the best. The volume will be so useful that it is a pity mere geographical conditions have kept out the Americans; for such writers as Motley and Hawthorne have added valuably to the body of English-and therefore of European-literature. So why-or why not?

Mr E. M. Nicholson's 'Birds in England' (Chapman & Hall) is an unusual book, for he reduces sentimentality to less than a minimum, while the sentimentalists who call themselves bird-lovers are legion, and, as he shows

us, too often harmful to the interest they profess to serve. His great concern is to preserve bird-species in England, and to recover so far as possible at this late day the examples which are lost and gone. He would have no molly-coddling; and, while he encourages birdsanctuaries, would not have them 'edited' by keeping out of them the occasional birds of prey which, after all, are rather dangerous to the unfit than to those which have the strength and wit to escape and endure. He calls for fair play and a free opportunity to eagles, bustards, kites, and the many relations of the hawk, which are persecuted and destroyed, mainly for the sake of the -preservation of game; although their existence has the effect of strengthening the normal existence of wild birds. He utters anathema, with justification, against collectors-those worst causes of the destruction of species-bird-catchers, taxidermists, and casual gunners. In his excellent case for sane measures of bird protection he details many interesting facts; as that the comparative disappearance of the swallow is due, not to any fantastic cause, but to the better sanitation, the growth of the use of motors and decrease of horses, and the consequent absence of the flies, their food; also that goldfinches have returned and flourish anew, because the land which has gone out of cultivation tends to produce thistles, the seed of which is their favourite food-evidence that Dame Nature is a wise old mother who, with all her seeming indifference, takes better care of her creatures than clever, opinionated, scientific Man seems able to do.

Sir Hubert Murray's book on 'Papua of To-day' (P. S. King) is significant because simply, and without the banner-waving which is sometimes unhelpful and even hurtful to patriotic feeling, it bears witness to the benevolent administration of a British possession and mandated territory. Papua, like the Gaul of Cæsar's experience, is divided into three parts: Dutch New Guinea, the section which was and is British, and the area that was German before the War; the two latter divisions being now under the authority of Australia, whose methods, based upon British tradition and practice, have proved so excellent that when, some years ago, income tax was demanded of the settlers and they protested that having no representation in the Dominion

Parliament such taxation was unjust, not only was the demand withdrawn but the money already gathered was returned. In view of iron exactions at home, this generosity seems almost too good to be true. Sir Hubert Murray writes with an unromantic pen. He is not under the spell of the tropics, and curiously says next to nothing of the fauna and flora of the country he administers. But he is interested in the natives; and, after all, that is the supreme thing for a colonial minister. That the native shall have justice, and receive the consideration due to him as a human being and a British subject, these are principles accepted and practised by Sir Hubert Murray, so helpfully that, actually, some of the natives have been aggrieved at not being taxed.

It is to be feared that Mr C. Fillingham Coxwell's devoted and scholarly, yet vivid and readable, presentment of Siberian and Other Folk Tales' (Daniel) will not win the material reward its due; for the work is most admirably produced, and its fullness of narrative and helpful notes mean many years of research and revision which it must be impossible to repay. The compiler has discovered and brought together examples of primitive literature from all parts of the recent empire of the Tzar; and it is interesting to see how old favourites live in the guise of other lands. Chaucer's and Boccaccio's tale of the Patient Griselda, for instance, is to be found in a very exact form among the Great Russians; while Little Red Riding Hood and other household companions of our own country wander through the woods of many far-sundered districts. With so vast and diversified a work as this, it is impossible to compress-holding eternity in the palm of the hand, in Blake's striking phrase-but it is easy and right to recommend the work; for here is a volume inspiring and instructive to the serious race of folk-lorists, and at the same time rich with jolly imaginative tales for the amusement of the weary and the recreation of the young and the not-so-young. The index is not without its humour, as Husband and Wife, see Domestic Strife.'

INDEX

TO THE

TWO HUNDRED AND FORTY-SIXTH VOLUME OF THE
QUARTERLY REVIEW.

[Titles of Articles are printed in heavier type.
articles are printed in italics.]

Bela Kun episode in Hungary, 131.
Bellot, Hugh H. L., 'The Rule of
Law,' 346.

Benson, Miss Stella, 'The Little
World,' 210.

Bernini, G., character of his art, 21.
2 F