Shorter Notices
Talks in a Free Country. By W. R. Inge. (Putnam. 8s. 6d.) THERE are a few interesting ideas in Dr. Inge's latest book, and the first talk on "Escape " is good. It is doubtful whether the other essays or dialogues make any important addition to the considerable volume of print in which Dr. Inge has given public expression to
his views. Dr. Inge hints to his readers, and seems to have con- vinced himself, that he is a bold and origihal thinker, and that his pages may shock timid or squeamish minds. The only shocking thing about this latest book is the author's slipshod attitude towards ascertainable fact. Some readers may indeed be shocked by Dr. Inge's lapses of taste, but about good taste judgements may differ. There is nothing to excuse generalisations made from hasty and superficial reading: e.g., " by repealing the Corn Laws we ensured the ultimate ruin of British farming." There is perhaps even less excuse for plain errors of fact, such as the assumption that Herr von Hoesch, sometime German Ambassador in London, was one of the victims of the Nazi purge of 1934. The Nazis may have arranged Hoesch's death, but he died on April ioth, 1936. Finally, what value can be placed upon the critical powers of a man who could say in 1942, " I have always thought that if we had kept clear of the French entanglement. we could have made a deal with Hitler "?
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