SAMUEL PEPYS.

Otago Witness, Issue 4074, 12 April 1932, Page 64

SAMUEL PEPYS.

TERCENTENARY OF THE BIRTH OF FAMOUS DIARIST. By Andrew Sharp. Several authorities give the date of Samuel Pepys’s birth as February 23. 1632: hut Air John Dri uk'vater. in hi< hook on “Pepys: His Life and Character.'’ gives it as occurring on that day in the following year. Chambers relies on the former date, and as he is a reliable authority, we may take it that this year will see the tercentenary of this famous diarist, one time clerk to the Navy Office during the reigns of Charles If and James 11. Although attaining much distinction in hi< career t the Admiralty. Pepys would never have acquired lasting fame had it not been for the diary that he so zealously kept for a period of about 10 years- —-from January lGsf> to May Ititlti. This remarkable chronicle of big and small events in Pepys’s life was written down in shorthand, and thanks to the persevering work of Lord Braybrooke, it was carefully deciphered and published in 1825. The character of Pepys himself, and his gradual rise in the world, with all his recorded foibles, weaknesses, and peculiarities, as displayed in the daily intercourse with all classes of society, form a highly amusing and instructive study. quite dramatic in its lights and shades, and of never-failing interest.

Pepys was a person of humble origin, the son of a retired London tailor. Samuel was the fifth child of the family. The city into which the young Pepys was born was far different from anything we can imagine. Its principal thoroughfare was the Thames, and if we follow Pepys’s diary we find that he did most of his journeying to and from his house to his business offices and to other parts of Loudon by boat. Mr Drinkwater says of this Elizabethan London that the streets were so narrow that the top storeys of opposing buildings allowed but a foot or two of skylight to penetrate faintly to the cobbles below.

The overcrowding in the poorer quarters of the town had forced the population of large areas to live in squalid tenement houses at the rate of a family to a room, had even forced it into patchwork hovels and underground, in conditions no better than barbarous. Constantly over this scene, intensifying its gloom and grime, hung a heavily-charged smoke cloud, sometimes drifting away to offend the nicer neighbourhood of Whitehall and the west.

Through the day the crackling of wheels on stones mingled incessantly with the shrill outcry of hawkers and the competitive bidding of apprenticen. scolding or persuading the passers-by into their masters’ shops. ■ By night the streets were unlit save at a point of vantage here and there where, private enterprise or some

charitable bequest provided a single candle, with light feebly penetrating its case of horn.

Into such a London Samuel Pepys was horn, and for a time he must have lived much as the poorer tradesmen’s sons were accustomed to live. The compensations were the activity and life on the river, the coming and going of boats and ships between the Tower and places down the stream.

Pepys was educated at Huntingdon Grammar School, which establishment he left when eleven years of age. Later he studied at Cambridge University. He is described as being a round-faced, rather fat boy. and in later life as a round-faced, stockish little man. He married at 23 a young girl of 15. Elizabeth St. Michel, an attractive person, but penn i less. Pepys does not tell u< how he first met his wife, who was the daughter of a fugitive Frenchman of a mildly aristocratic French family. It seemed a rather imprudent move ot Pepys. himself with no -ecure income, to take to himself a wife also witlivut money, and in their early married life Mrs Pepys had to do their own washing, scrubbing, and cooking, but in a little time they were able to afford a maid.

Pepys was fortunate in having a rich and illustrious relative in Sir Edward Montagu, who was constrained to take an interest in Samuel and his young and pretty wife, and after a time offered .them an asylum in his house. Later he took Pepys to be his secretary, ami when Montagu sailed upon his expedition to the Sound he took Pepys with him.

In the meantime. Samuel and his wife had been very happy together in Montagu’s household, and did themselves well. At one family reunion, held in my Lord’s rooms. Pepys records that they had on the table "a dish of marrowbones: a leg of mutton; a loin of veal: a dish of fowl: three pullets: and two dozen larks all in a dish; a great tart, a neat s tongue, a dish of anchovies: and a dish of prawns and cheese."

Those were stirring times in which Pepys lived. When they returned from the expedition to the Sound, Samuel became a clerk in one of the Government offices—living, he says. “ in Axe Yard, having my wife, and servant Jane, and no other in family than ns three." For a while things hung fire, but soon came the Bestoration, and Pepys’s patron was employed to bring home Charles 11. He took his cousin with him as secretary to the generals of the fleet; and when Montagu was rewarded fur his loyal zeal and service and created Earl of Sandwich, Pepys came in for a share of royal favour, and was appointed clerk of the Acts of the Navy. Pepys thoroughly appreciated his tiplift- in life when he first accompanied Montagu, and records how gratified he was to find that he “took place of all but the captains*’ when dining. Being the general’s man meant courtesy and consideration from all ranks, and Pepys was just the person to appreciate it ail; moreover, he had the gift of making himself a likeable person, and so was in good favour everywhere. Quite unexpectedly he had got his feet on a rung of the ladder, and the ascent in front of him engaged all his attentions. He was not the man to push himself unduly, but he was not the type to let aiiy occasion slip if he could better his position—or put something into his pocket—with all honesty and circumspection.

He records his impressions when in Holland, where he met the Duke of York, and Charles 11. But he was intensely interested in all that he saw, and puts down in his diary that the Dutch women were “ very pretty and in good habits, fashionable and black spots.” He purchased some “ fine linning stockings and wide canons,” and bought presents for his wife. “ lie was in great uncertainty of mind about a pretty woman he found sleeping in his lodging bedroom, and on one occasion toasted the king’s health so well that waking betimes in the morning he mistook the rising for the setting sun.”

In due course the ship containing Charles II voyaged to England, Pepys feeling proud, no doubt, to be on the same vessel. He listened to Charles telling stories of his escape from Worcester, making Pepys “ weep to hear the stories that he told.” He jumped up in his own esteem when the Duke of York had occasion to call him Pepys by name, and also when he had the" honour of presenting to the King a pass for his signature. Charles eventually landed at Dover, and in June of that "year Pepys received from the Duke of York his warrant as Clerk of the Acts at a salary of £350 a year. Pepys set to work with much assiduity to learn his job, and laboured might and main to put the affairs of the- Navy on a businesslike footing; and he suc-

ceeded very well indeed. He worked hard, yet he delighted to play hard on occasion, and hugely' enjoyed the parties, evenings at the play-houses, nights at cribbage. and all the other amusements which occupied men of his station in their leisure moments.

Notwithstanding the fact that Pepys found distinction in the position he held, he would be comparatively unknown to-day but for his diary. It is this book which proves of such utter delight and refreshment for readers. Commencing in 1659 and closing in 1669 it comprises the public affairs connected with the Restoration, the Dutch War, the Great Plague, and the Fire of London. It shows the writer as a faithful and zcalou- official, a moderate loyalist, a churchman of Presbyterian leanings— Ou the whole a respectably conducted man; yet also a great gossip, a gadabout. a seeker after amusements, fond o; a pretty female face besides that of his own wife, vain and showy in his clothing, and greatly studious of appearance before the world. The charm of his diary, however. lies mainly in its deliberate registration of those little tneiights ami rertei-tions on matters of sell that pass through every one’s mind at 'a-'-arly all times and seasons, but which hardly anyone would think

proper to acknowledge, much less to put into a historical form.

Pepyoilicial po-t at the Navy Office brought him in close contact with many of the leading men of the day, and also with the t ourt. Day by day he committed to his journal the many secret and often anxious thoughts that he had .upon affairs of management of the State. He hides little, and even his own little vanities as well as the wanton ways of the King with, his numerous mistresses are all given due note. More especially lie delights to mention specially the advancement ot his own affairs.

There came a great day in January Itibu which afforded Pepys much joy, when at Hampton Court. “The King come to me ot himself, and told me, ‘ Mr Pepys/ says lie, ’ I do give you thanks tor your good services all this year, and I assure you I am very sensible of it.’ ” Then at the end of September 1605, with his characteristic mingling of self-praise and gratitude to the divine, he was able to set down; —

I do end this month with the greatest content, and niay say that these last t.iree months, tor joy. health..and profit have been much the greatest that ever 1 received in all my life in any twelve months almost in my life, having nothing upon me but the consideration of the sicklinesse ot the season during the Great Plague to mortify nice. For all

Again he acknowledges his debt, as he sees it, to divine favour. Being taken to the table of an acquaintance and treated well, and enjoying a “ very brave dinner, though no invitation,” he cries out. "Lord! to see how I am treated, that come from so mean a beginning, is a matter of wonder to me. But it is God’s great mercy to me. ami His blessing upon my taking pains and being punctual in my* dealings. But. alas! is it not every painstaking and deserving man in the world who gets his due reward! Pepys was lucky, indeed—a child of fortune, well favoured.

J he Great Plague descended upon London during the time Pepys was busy at the Navy Department. Pepys stayed the most of the time in the city, and his home allairs continued to be of an amicable nature, his wife not as yet suspecting his little pleasantries with other ladies. Referring to the plague in a letter dated September 4, 1665, Pepys wrote: —

. . .Stayed in the City till above 7400 d’ed in one week, and of them above 6000 or the plague, and little noise heard day or night but the tolling of bells; till I could walk Lumber street ami not meet 20 persons from one end to the c>tlier. and not 50 upon the Exchange; till whole families, 10 and 12 together, have been swept away . . . till the nights, though much lengthened, are grown too short to conceal the burials of those that died the day before . . . lastly till I could find neither meat nor drink safe, the butcheries being everywhere visited, my brewer’s house shut up. and my baker, with his whole family, dead of the plague.

The Great Fire was also instrumental in driving Pepys out of the citv temporarily, and he took his wife to" Woolwich, seeing almost the whole city in flames by moonlight as they set out. He records the woeful picture that met his eyes when the fire had faded away, the “ miserable sight of Paul’s Church, with all the roofs fallen, and the body of the quire fallen into St. Fayth’s; Paul’s School, also Ludgate, and "Fleet street, my father’s house, and the church, and a good part of the Temple the.like.”

Perhaps eyen more interesting to the average reader of Pepys’s Diary are the frank admittances of a leaning on his part for amusement and women. After an evening in Mrs Knipp’a company he writes: —

She and I singing, and, God forgive me! I- do not see that my nature is not to be quite conquered, but will esteem pleasure above all tilings, though yet in the middle of it, it has reluctances after my business, which is neglected by my following my pleasu’-e. However, musique and women I cannot but gave way to, whatever my business

And also Pepys’s little domestic touches, an intimacy with life’s little affairs. A\ ith delicate nicety he noted down his feelings on homely occasions-.— This cold did most certainly come bv my staying a little too long bare-legged yesterday morning, when I rose while I looked out fresh socks and thread stock>ngs, yesterday’s having in the night, lying near the window, been covered with snow within the window, which made me I durst not put them on.

His flirtations with Deb. Willet and the ensuing troubles with his wife are set down for our edification, as also the pride with which he set out in his first carriage and pair, and even his behaviour in church. In these little everyday matters Pepys amuses his readers. At the commencement of keeping the diary Pepys’s fortunes were at a low ebb; but after his appointment ns Clerk of the Acts his salary and perquisites of office soon added to' his riches, and he soared into the realms of gaietv and fashion. Pepys died in 170.3 a ’fairlv wealthy man.—Weekly Scotsman. NEW BOOKS. THE ECO IN EXCELSIS. “ Desirable Young Men.” By Patrick Carleton. (Cloth: 65.) London: Philip Allan and Co., Ltd. The incidents and (with two or three minor exceptions whose originals have in every case read and approved the appropriate passages) the characters of this story —which purports to be a study, not of life as usually lived at a university, but of the reactions to one another of certain hypothetical individualities —are imaginary.

In these words Mr Carleton explains his book so far as motif and characters are concerned. Its characters are its outstanding feature. Indeed it is a series of character sketches—of men in their reactions to life and events. Of these Fulk Pearson is the overshadowing figure—a man who in youth tasted poverty, and in manhood is rich. He is an individualist in all things, even sofar as his personal contact with the opposite sex is concerned. In matters material the same trait is dominant. He is always forceful, self-reliant, self-cen-tred—the embodiment of egotism. And it is not merely egotism without sense or warrant. Fulk Pearson is clever in many ways and master of many things. He was a lover of the occult, a genius who left his mark on the character of those who came within his influence.

One such was Jasper Brownlowc, young and impressionable, who made for worship a hero who was Fulk Pearson. The weaving of this companionship shows the author to possess unusual powers of perception. Under Fulk’s influence Jasper accomplishes things impossible without it. but it wellnigh destroys his Cambridge career. That and the part played by the girl in the reconstruction can best be gleaned from the book.

After gaining his Ph.D. at Cambridge Fulk Pearson aims at a hermit’s life in the Derbyshire hills. Ilere he undertakes a study of witchcraft, spending much money in furnishing a library of suitable works. He renounces human companionship, spends some time with his horse, and gives no quarter to visitors. One acquaintance develops into something like friendship. and lie appears to enjoy the company of Dr Simon, the village medico. Following a tussle with a burglar tramp Pearson is compelled to consult him. and the plain doctor tells the literary hermit some plain truths. Nature has her own way of dealing with people like you. . . . yon ought to go away. This country presents too many opportunities for loneliness. And you ought to stop being a fool. That’s particularly important. You ought to get it out of your head that you’re too good to associate with the rest of mankind. You ought to stop swimming against the current. Whether the advice was accepted is for the reader’s imagination. The book is quite unusual. It touches many things and some countries, particularly Germany. While it cannot become a popular novel in the literal sense it may well attract those who like their fiction garnished with very solid material. Fulk Pearson is undoubtedly a creation, and there are others of more than ordinary interest among the “Desirable Young Men.”

SINGERS AND SONGSTERS. “ An Exotic Young Woman.” By Leila S. Mackinlay. (Cloth; 65.) London: Mills and Boon, Ltd. Do right and fear no man, Don’t write and fear no woman. The reader who takes this title too literally will perhaps be disappointed. There is nothing really hectic about Sonia Lauzun, though she is rather difficult. That may be charged to the artistic temperament, for Sonia develops into. an operatic star. In the beginning we realise that she will have difficulty in measuring up to her devoted

mother's estimate. To the maestro : who was to train the voice of Sonia the mother wrote: “Aly daughter, who has just left convent, has never harboured so much as one wicked thought. In her 'ou as ill discover a rare jewel, whose facets shine with the lustre of innocence.” , Jennifer Maberley, the Italian maestro’s able assistant, held that “ mothers who expect as much virtue are doomed to disappointment—it is inhuman to expect any girl to be such a paragon of perfection.” But Jennifer was a very sensible woman, and Sonia’s mother was not. Her father lost much of his interest in his family when the war took his son.

The influence of Basilio Andies, the amiable Anglo-Italian, and Jennifer are good for Sonia, but she is a little difficult. Her first love affair progressed very well until her mother discovered that she was motoring with Robin Deverell, described as a young drunkard. It was unceremoniously ended, and Robin went back to his cups. He it was who acted on the motto (in the second line at all events) at the head of this notice. Then Sonia fell desperately in love with Dudley Granville, a fellow-pupil of Basilio, and but for an interlude in which a flying viking, Garry Carstair.-., loomed large, the rest of the book i< occupied for the major part with the harmonising of these two personalities. They love, arc separated, and while Dudley is perfecting his art, Sonia is losing her power of song. The maestro is in despair, Jennifer can do little, ami Sonia's parents cannot agree as t<> Sonia’s future. In her own wav, however, Sonia finds her feet, and the threatened career of the second Calve is made secure. The debut is made at Della Scala, am! the populace is enthralled. So “An Exotic Young Lady.” with the help of her friends, finds herself. There are m* purple patches in the story, which should interest especially all lovers of sone. MYSTERY AND LIFE. “Lonely Road.’’ By Nevil Shute. (Cloth; 65.) London and Alelbourne: Cassell and Co., Ltd. I think that as a man pursues his life he sometimes comes to a point, just once and again, when he must realise that for the last three weeks or six he has been living as a stranger to himself. That has happened to me on two ' ; or three occasions, generally in i connection with some girl • I cherish these vignettes, only a few weeks each, in which I have been kind and true, thought clearly, and acted generously. J cherish them as an old lady i cherishes her love letters—things unreal, almost unbeliev- . able in their tenderness, and yet which actually happened. For I this reason I want to write down something about the weeks I lived last summer, so that if I live to be old I may have this note book with me to look over. It is the details, the silly little things that meant so much to me, that I want to remember: I should be very willing to forget the major incidents.

Froip this opening the reader will ii» right in concluding that “Lonely Road ” is an intimately personal story. Commander Stevenson, the central figure a»d narrator, is a self-reliant man of business. well-endowed, reckless, and not prone to caring much about himself. At times he goes through the experience of sinking a German vessel in which none was saved. Those are bad nights for him. and sometimes he builds up on whisky. He is nevertheless a staunch fellow, faithful to friends, and not afraid of foes.

Dashing out into the country from Plymouth one night Commander Stevenson lights on strange happenings at a lonely part of the coast. An accident—or was it a blow in the dark? —for a time put him out of court, but a later coincidence brings him into touch with the principals of some sinister scheme. The keenest brains of Scotland Yard set themselves to solve the riddle of this mysterious conspiracy, and the commander's aid is summoned to their counsels. But another factor has come into the situation—the little dancing instructress, Alollie Gordon. Events of startling significance crowd upon one another with breathless rapidity to culminate in a catastrophe as unexpected as it is cruel. The period covered in the book is short, but it is full of movement. Commander Stevenson was a man of action, and the events of the few weeks are gripping in their mystery and intensity. There are swift and dangerous motor drives, calm and stormy sea trips, plots and counter plots, all woven in convincing realism, It is a rattling good story, with some liya men and women in it—the sort of novel to please a large circle of readers.

THE DISMAL SCIENCE. “To Hell With Justice—AVe Want Economics! ” By Nevile Wilkinson, “ The Fallacy of Economics.” By John Middleton Murry. (Criterion Miscellany Series; Is net.) London: Faber and Faber, Ltd. Mr Wilkinson’s cryptic title covers a plea for credit reform and a conversational argument in favour of his scheme.. It is impossible to present its principles within the compass of a short paragraph, so the reader .who is interested should peruse it in full. It is provocative and original, and may be

added to the many prescriptions for the present sickness of society. It is neither Socialism nor Conservatism. “No problem is permanently solved. One solution only opens up another problem. One cannot see more than one step at a time. Free credit is the next step.”

Mr Murry’s pamphlet is presented as ■" a reasoned protest against the insularity which vitiates all our current English thinking on vital economic problems. It maintains that the economic problem is, in reality, a moral problem for the individual, and that only when this is admitted can there be any conscious and deliberate improvement—any real cure of the economic disease.” Mr Murry is a forceful writer, presenting his views in high and sometimes vivid lights. Like the preceding pamphlet, it is best to read the whole case as the author presents it. BOOKS AND BOOKMEN. " Chaucer,” a biographical and critical study of the poet and his age, by G. K. Chesterton, is announced. # # # Sir Arthur Salter has just completed a book on the world crisis, upon which he has been at work for some time. ¥ ¥ ¥ The Marquess of Huntly, who is • in his eighty-fifth year, is engaged on a new book of reminiscences. This will be his third.

There is about to be published under the title “ Purpose in Evolution ” Sir J. Arthur Thomson’s Riddell Memorial Lectures delivered at Armstrong College, Newcastle-on-Tyne.

Now that his “ Work, Wealth, and Happiness of Mankind ” is launched on its way Mr H. G. Wells is working on a novel.

Mr Osbert Sitwell has written a study of “ Dickens ” to be added to the series of “ Dolphin Books.”

Mr W. B. Yeats is to contribute an introduction to the autobiography which is being written by Sir Purohit Swami, the Indian monk-poet and philosopher, who is at present visiting England.

Mr Sterling Mackinlay and his daughter, Miss Leila Mackinlay published their new books on the same day. Mr Maekinlay’s was called “ The Enemy Agent;” his daughter’s, “An Exotic Young Lady.”

An edition of the letters of Father Gerard Manley Hopkins to Robert Bridges and Canon R. W. Dixon, edited by Mr Collcer Abbott, of the University of Aberdeen, is to be published. Mr Abbott was specially chosen to edit the letters by the late Poet Laureate.

Among the books from Lord Hillingdon’s library which were to come up for sale in London recently was a first edition of Boswell’s “ Life of Johnson,” with an interesting letter inserted. It was written by Boswell in 1790, and deals with his appointment as recorder of Carlisle—a task which interrupted his great work.

In the press is a new book by Sir Percy Fitzpatrick, entitled “ Scraps of South African History,” telling the story of the diamond trail, recalling memories of Cecil Rhodes and Dr Jameson, and throwing light on many other men and matters in that part of the world during the last half-centurv.

A long-popular author whose death is announced is Mr Halliwell Sutcliffe. He wrote over 30 novels, most of them dealing with the Yorkshire dales and moors. He was born at Thackley, near Bradford, and had been living near Skipton for many years.

Mr Arthur Bryant, whose “ King Charles II ” was one of the successes of the Christmas season, is engaged on a similar book about Pepys. Mr Bryant is a son of Sir Francis Morgan Bryant, formerly secretary to the late Lord Stamfordham.

Mr David Garnett, whose book, “ The Grasshoppers Come,” was notable for its vividly real account of a long-distance overland flight, is announcing a new book, “ A Rabbit in the Air,” which is to tell the story of how he learnt to fly. This is Mr Garnett’s first attempt at non-fiction, though his fiction is itself so completely imagined, and so convincingly, that one almost forgets at the time of reading that it is mere invention.

Mr E. F. Benson’s study of “ Charlotte Bronte,” based on his discovery of much new material relating to Charlotte’s stay in Brussels, was to be published on April 7. The same date has been ehosen for the publication of Mr G. C. Haseltine’s gallery of “ Great Yorkshire Men ” —a series of studies ranging from Captain Cook and John Wycliffe to Guy Fawkes and Blind Jack Metcalf.

“ Violin ” is the first novel in a new vein by a writer who, under another name, is widely known as a writer of fiction. Told with power and pathos, it conquers the difficulty of making a vivid human being of a genius. It tells of David Benoni, violinist and lover, his early struggles JW adventures; of the

jealousy of the irascible star, Richard Poldonnel; and, above all, of David's love for the princess of his dreams.

The Cambridge University Press spring catalogue is, as usual, a model of beautiful printing. • Those readers who are interested in typography should be delighted to get hold of it. It is printed throughout in the new “ Perpetua ” fount, designed by Eric Gill and cut by the Monotype Corporation. It is severe, cold type, very practical, “ classical ” in its beauty. Its capitals are graceful and yet inscriptional.

Two new books by Sir W. S. Gilbert are promised, though they will not be ready for some months. One volume contains “ The Lost Bab Ballads,” collected for the first time from early volumes of Fun and other periodicals by Mr Townley Searle, who contributes an introduction. The- other book presents a newly discovered play, entitled “ A Colossal Idea,” and includes an introduction by the same editor. Both books are illustrated.

A petition, supported by Mr Bernard Shaw, Professor Einstein, Mr Bertrand Russell, and seven hundred and seventy others, has been sent to the Swedish Academy to award this year’s Nobel Prize for Literature to Mr Upton Sinclair. Mr Sinclair, like last year’s winner, Mr Sinclair Lewis, is an American, and is the author of some 40 books of fiction, drama, economics, and social and literary criticism.

“James M. Wilson: An Autobiography, 1836-1931 ” is announced for early publication. The account of Dr Wilson’s activities in educational and ecclesiastical affairs is drawn mainly from his own reminiscences. This has been amplified by the editor, his youngest son, with a study of the development of his religious thought, also based on personal statements recorded by Dr Wilson at various stages of his career.

Miss Dorothy Wynne Willson, whose novel of life in a boys’ school, “ Early Closing,” was regarded as ofle of the most promising first novels of last year, has died from influenza at her home at Kidlington, Oxfordshire. She was only 22. She got the right atmosphere for her book when she was living at Greshfim’s School, Holt, in Norfolk, where her father was formerly a master.

Dr Ernest A. Baker has written an account of his archaeological adventures during the last 30 years in exploring caverns and potholes in all parts of the kingdom, as well as abroad. The book, freely illustrated with photographs, will be entitled “Caving: Episodes of Underground Exploration.”

Miss Netta Syrett, author of the novel, “ The Manor House,” has been writing since pre-war days. In addition to her novels she has written a number of stories and plays for children. The Children’s Theatre Movement was largely due to her efforts. She is also a member of the Feniina Vie Heureuse Prize Committee.

Mr P. G. H. Fender is contributing a volume on “ Cricket ” to the “ Aldin ” series. The publishers also announce the first issue of Lowe’s Lawn Tennis Annual, edited by Sir Gordon Lowe, with contributions by well-known players upon the more specialised aspects of the game, in addition to the record and commentary on the year’s play, lists of forthcoming events, and the like. PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED. An unusual little pamphlet, “ Cosmic Law,” has come to us from Messrs Bassett and Co., Ltd., of Wanganui. It is a general manager’s viewpoint as to whether cosmic law is friend or foe, and makes an interesting discussion, in which honesty of purpose and an endeavour to see present conditions sanely are integral parts.

A new short story by H. G. Wells—- “ The Queer Story of Brownlow’s Newspaper ” —is a feature of the March number of the Strand Magazine, where P. G. Wodehouse, Thomas Burke, Warwick Deeping, Denis Maekail, and Guy Gilpatric contribute further tales, and “ Sapper ” completes his interesting serial, “ The Mystery of the Studio.” Three articles—“ In the Days of Modern Great Men’s Youth,” “ Orpen’s SelfPortraits,” and “ Earthquake Autographs ” —make an interesting contrast to the fiction in the number.