LITERARY NOTES

Evening Post, Volume CVII, Issue 104, 3 May 1924, Page 17

LITERARY NOTES

/Received: "The Martyred Nation," by Alex Devine, from the author; "Four tragments," by D. F. A., from W. Heffer and Sons, Cambridge; "A Short History, of International Intercourse," by U Delude Burns, from George Allen and Unwin, London; "Lip Malvy's Wife " J'j^ gneW Chamberlain, from Mills and Boon, London; "A Daughter of the ™. „by Marion Parsons; and 'Grab, by Andre Lichtenberger, from Geoffrey BleSj London.

„;J housands of people learnt by heart The Day," the, striking war poem written by Henry Chappell, the railwayman at Bath. Mr. Ghappell has now finished a book' "Life on the Iron Road," relating his 33 years' experiences of railway work. He was complimented on his verses by many eminent people who sought'him at Bath railway station. 'The Day" was included in most collections of war poetry.

Mr. Walter A. Briscoe is the editor of a volume called "Byron, the Poet" IKoutledge); which is something new in biography;, He has assembled essays by a score or so of men and women, each one of which throws some light on the poet according to the angle of vision. There is a study of Byron, for example, by Fir A. Quiller'-Couch. His fame is considered by Whitelaw Reid, his genius by the late Marie Corelli. Lord Haldane shows Byron as seen by Goethe, while others.wrate of Byron in London, Venice, Greece, and elsewhere., It is a we*, derful all-round view of man and poet, and an interesting innovation in modern biography.

Mr. Frank Harass, in his "Contemporary Portraits," caricatures a famous caricaturist:—-

"Oh, yes," said Mis. Neville, Max Beerbohm's half-sister, "Max was married, you can take h from me, legally married in church even, to ai very charming and a very pretty girl. I said, as we were all leaving the church, and' the bride was getting into the carriage,'! must, say good-bye, dear Max.' Frantically he seized me" by the arm: 'You're not going to leave me alone with her,' he cried, and when I replied: 'Indeed, I am!' he looked at me reproachfully, muttering: 'It is hardly decent!' "

Miss Margaret, Hirst, Cambridge Lecturer in the Birmingham University, has recently had published an ably-written work dealing with "The Quakers in Peace and War." Her narrative includes the general facts, events, ami developments of the history of the Society of Friends the world over. Miss Hirst devotes her attention especially to their belief in the principles and practices of peace, in private and in public affairs, and to the consequences of this advocacy. It makes a long and interesting story wf loyalty to an ideal. carried on through generation after generation, and often, especially in times of war, fruitful in suffering. As the story comes down to modern times and the developments of the World War, one notes a curious lessening, or dimming, of this once unquestioning, wholebeaited "testimony" in the face of war—a. development, of psychological interest ami doubt- ««« m'-ielt comyUcutttl iv Us (juubbs,