LITERARY NOTES

Evening Post, Volume XCVIII, Issue 130, 29 November 1919, Page 14

LITERARY NOTES

"St. George,'and the Dragons,'" is a delightful comedy by Eden Phiilpotts, published by Duckworth and Co. It is a. "class" study in the form of a play. Two independent and quite modern daughters of a peer fall in love, the elder with a worthy yeoman's son of ancient Saxon lineage;'and the younger with, a by no means penniless, but rather keen and rough - mannered Scotch curate. The parents of. the girls are very much disturbed by their daughters' choice. In their dilemma, Bishop St. George Loftus conies to their aid. The girls are passionately fond of him. He realises all the good points of the young men, and fully understands also the inevitable disillusionment' of the girls that will follow if they marry the one the farmer's son, the other the curate. With considerable skill' Bishop St. George overcomes the dragons. It is all very cleverly done, and exceedingly amusing. "St. George and the Dragons" is now playing in London with great success. It was first .riven at Birmingham in March, 1918. ..tuoh of the dialogue recalls W. S. Gilbert at his best.

Siegfried Sassoon, whose two volumes of poetry, "The Old Huntsman" and "Counter Attack," were published last year, is another of the small army of European men of letters now lecturing in the United States. Mr. Sassoon, who has been called "one of the morning stars of English poetry," served all through tho war in the British Army, being several times gassed and wounded.

From jHodder and -Stonghton is received a parcel of modern novels in cheap and handy form—excellent vvorks notwithstanding their low price. They include "The Man in Lower Ten," a brightly written mystery tale by Mary Roberts Rinehart; "Lady Baltimore" by Owen Wister—a polished "literary" story of North a-nd South, told in tho style characteristic of this writer ; "Round the Corner in Gay Street" by Grace S. Richmond, a clean, breezy tale of love and a loveable American girl—most attractive style reading, crisp and refreshing; "Cleopatra" by Sir Rider Haggard— a weird story of Egypt's beautiful Queen-lover told in the course of the history of the life of Harmachis, from M.S. discovered in a coffin and translated by an eminent Egyptologist.

"Who was the 'discoverer' of William De Morgan?" the Book Monthly asks. The man who had most to do with his bringing him out as a novelist, it says, was'Mr. Harry Lawrence, of the firm of .Lawrence and Sullen, publishers. Ho knew "Mr. De Morgan, and saw the MS. of his first novel, "Joseph Vance." Ha so liked its quality and its human interest that he took it to Mr. Heinemann, saying. "This is a birr novel, and it needs a big novel house to issue it, as you will see if you read it." Mr. Heinemann read it, and published it, and it was received with something like acclamation.

A new literary monthly, "The London Mercury," is to make its appearance shortly.' under the editorship of Mr. J. C. -Scmire.

"These devils, or—to be more just— these dsvil-driven slaves, with a malignity for which it would be hard to find a-par-He!.-endeavoured by every means at their command to ruin the country for the future as well as for the present. Buildings were universally destroyed, including! in 'many cases, the parish churches. Historical monuments, such as the venerable Castle of Coucy, were blown to pieces. Family vaults were violated, and the graves profaned. _TTie we'ls were poisoned und polluted. Worst of all, the Young fruit trees were ringed,

so as to destroy them for future seasons. It was considered the last possibility of savagery when the Mahdi's men cut down the slow-growing palm-trees in the district of .Dongola, but every record upon earth has been swept a\ray by the barbarians of Europe."—From Sir A. Conan Doyle's "History of the War."