NEW BOOKS AND PUBLICATIONS.

Press, Volume LXV, Issue 19724, 14 September 1929, Page 15

NEW BOOKS AND PUBLICATIONS.

VOLTAIRE'S FRANCE. j Century Fnnce: Six Essay*. By Frederick C. Oreao, ILA., PaJ>. J. H. Dent and Sons, LtA. In these essay? Professor iVreen choose? six different points of departure for an exploration of life in Eighteenth Century France; and they are well chosen. If they lead on the whole to a survey, literary, political, and social, that takes slight account of the masses, this is a limitation tha*. reveals as much as it hides; and is so few pages the author could only have boon more complete by being less comprehensive. But the essay ou the Abbe Coyer, a shrewd, ironic contemporary observer, throws a clear beans downwards on the dark and wretched lives of the poor—and, what is more unusual, on the distresses of the humbler I'oblLty, debarred by a senseless tradition from occupations of profit. The first study takes for subject John Law, Comptroller-General of the Finances to | Louis. XV., a financier of real genius but unequal judgment, whose scheming accelerated the ruin or the collapsing economic system and resulted in his own grand bankruptcy for 522 millions. "Angiomatoses and Francophiles" in an amusing account of French influence in England and English influence in France, with neatly fitted comments from both sides of the Channel. The two best essays, perhaps, are those which recount the long and furious quarrel between Voltaire and Freron and give a conspectus of the Parisian theatre of the day. Professor Green shows Voltaire as a literary blackguard, tenacious in treachery, trickery, and spite, and Freron, as an adroit, capable, and equally tenacious foeman, whose death did not avert but provoked a last foul stroke. The battle that raged round the famous "Encyclopaedia," between Diderot and his "Philosophes" and the traditionalists of Church and State, is here seen from a new angle; and it discloses in Freron an ill-supported champion who has had less than his due. The essay on the playhouses is full of interest, from its vivacious beginning', a reconstruction of the first night of Voltaire's "Semiramis," to the last pages, in which there is described the revolution in scenery and costume. Voltaire eanght the infection of realistic reform and dressed his Tartar chief, Genghis Khan, in "a crimson and gold tunic, a plush cloak lined with striped silk, and a headdress of eleven plumes"! The delighted audience did not question the authenticity of this strange Tartar dress; but Beaumarchais was soon afterwards to make better instructed advances towards the new realism in stage-presen-tation. The English stage, however, was equally indifferent to accuracy: Garrick played Macbeth in Court dress, complete with little sword and laee. Servandoni was the scenic reformer, who, early in the century, swept away the model mountains and temples—often dwarfed by the actors! —and transformed the stage, to the eye, by introducing scenic perspective- Professor Green is not an elegant writer, but be is an admirable workman in facts.

THE HAPPY WORKER. Joy in Work. By Henri de Man. Translated from the German by Eden and Cedar Paul. Allen and Urnrln.

Since the Elizabethan poet noted that "honest labour bears a smiling face," I the nature of industry has changed, and has changed the world. The adaptation of the worker to his work is no longer the old, comparatively simple problem of choice; and the study of it follows paths of economies, sociology, and psychology, unguessed by the poet. Henri de Man's enquiries, at the Frankfort Labour College, exemplify very well the care with which the modern industrial scientist has applied himself to the enormously complicated human problems of modern industry; and.the results are useful as much in showing that certain suspected dangers are leas than has been said, and are controllable, as in showing unsuspected dangers and suggesting how they are to be met. For instance, the ill effects of setting workers to tasks involving the endless and automatic repetition of some uninteresting operation have been greatly exaggerated. They disappear when those who need to exercise initiative frequently to be happy have been sorted out from those who do not. The problem, then, is a problem of sorting out, and not the problem of an evil per se. Henri de Man advances some distance beyond Buskin's dogmatic statement—"lt is only by labour that thought can be made healthy, and only by thought that labour can be made happy; and the two cannot be separated with impunity"—which has been accepted in a sense too narrow and unqualified; and his observations and conclusions on this head alone would make his book vainable. It covers, however, a great deal more ground, thoughtfully and persuasively. The translation is by two experienced and capable hands. WAR CEMETERIES. The Silent OttUs: An mat rased Ctolda to the War Cemeteries In France and Flanders. Compiled by Sidney C. Burst. Metauea and Co. This book describes and illustrates every cemetery in France and Belgium in which more than forty British soldiers are buried. It is unofficial in the sense that it is not issued with the authority of the Imperial War Graves' Commission, but it has been prepared with the Commission's sympathy and active assistance and has a preface by the Vice-Chairman, Major-General Sir Fabian Nor is it easy to imagine that the Commission, if it had undertaken the work itself, could have carried it out with greater thoroughness and greater love. Wherover forty British soldiers lie buried, their burial place is here photographed—if it is in France or Belgium—and the photograph is accompanied by notes indicating the nearest town or station, the distance, and the most convenient way ot getting there. So far as their own dead are concerned, relatives have of eourse been supplied already with a card bearing a photograph of the actual grave and directions how to reach it. But there has not before been a book available showing the position and general appearance of all the cemeteries to which each grave belongs. For supplying this Mr Hurst as compiler and Messrs Methuen and Co. as publishers deserve, and will receive, the gratitude of the Empire.

j FOR CHILDREN. ; A Bock of Vursery Bnynes. By Molly Bwabey. A Book of Hsnery Stortos. ' By Violet Maedooald. OoUlrer'* Travels. ( By Saxita X>. Rteardo. A Book of ! Ballad*. By Brian Rhys Jonathan Cap*. !The purpose of these books—three out of a large library—is to "provide » liberal education in the world's favourite stories" and to "create an instinct ■for the best in literature and book proFduetion." They are therefore graded to suit the tastes of children of different ages, and each grade has ita own distinctive binding. For the benefit also of parents and teachers, and the young readers when they are old enough to enquire, indexes and note* are provided, and when, as in the ease of "Gulliver's Travels," we have not the original bnt a condensation, the rewriting haa been carried eat with great

car*. It is of conm a Httl» arnicas to hare "Gulliver" presented almost as aa original work—Swift's name is not mentioned even on the title-pag*. Dr. DolttUa ia «* Maosv Will*— aa« illustrate* ay Bafk LafMaf. Jfcaaaaaa

The "Dolittle" books are all » well produced, so brightly written, and so olevc-!y iUustrated that it is difllenlt to avoid extravaganea in their praise. It will no doubt be s»en soma day, era* by those who axe now fascinated, that Dr. Dolittle has lived too long, bat as he has now left the earth for the noon, no real complaint can be made. In any rase it ia impossible to eomplain of a meal when it is so well served. ANNALS OF A GUNMAN. Little C*eax. Fy W K. Borne*. Jonathan Cap*, The stamp of authenticity is on this stark and indeed unpleasant book. Its story is that of a Chicago gunman. Rico, or Cesaro Bandello. In a cabaret hold-up he shoots a policeman, snd later a confederate, to stop his nieutli. j He displaces Vettori, the fat and failing leader of the gang, enjoys brief power in his little section of the underworld, snd is on the verge of seizing more, when chance gives up another confederate to the police, and the '•third degree'' extorts from him the evidence against Rico. Rico escapes, hides in Toledo, is betrayed, and shot. Nearly all the characters are criminals, nearly all the incidents are crimes; but the book is not a ''shocker." Its shocks are too real. The strength that made this book could make a better one out of a better subject.