BOOKS.
THIS WEEK'S BOOKS.
TnE most important publication this week is one of three books—which one depends upon the reader. The reader whose chief interest is history will undoubtedly place first Manin and the Venetian Revolution, 1848 (Long,mans), which is the fourth volume of Mr. G. M. Trevelyan's masterly Study of the Italian Risorgimento. The most notable publication from the purely literary point of view is certainly the Nonesuch Press's fine edition of Congreve. It is curious to learn, of a writer of Congreve's eminence, that this is the first collected and edited edition of his works which has yet appeared. The same Press have issued in delightful form Adlington's version of The Marriage of Cupid and Psyche from Apuleius, and John Donne's Paradoxes and Problemes which has not been printed since 1652.
From the point of view of those whose chief interest is current affairs, Mr. Lloyd George's Is it Peace ? (Hodder and Stoughton), which we review at some length this week, must be given the first place.
Other books which at first sight promise to be interesting are The Biology of Birds, by Professor J. Arthur Thomson (Sidgwick and Jackson), a writer who combines great scientific knowledge with a delightful literary gift ; Mr. H. W. Nevinson's Changes and Chances (Nisbet), and Contemporary Criticisms of Dr. Johnson, collected and edited by Mr. J. IC. Spittal (John Murray). Readers of the faithful Bozzy will frequently have wondered whether any of those whom the great man so unmercifully, and sometimes so unwarrantably browbeat, did not in point of fact occasionally venture to answer the Doctor back. Perhaps Mr. Spittal's book may throw some light on the problem.
A high place must be given to the collection of literary essays by the late Sir Walter Raleigh, which appears under the title Some Authors (Oxford University Press). The book includes essays on Boccaccio, Sir Thomas Hoby, John Dryden and Political Satire, William Blake and James McNeill Whistler.
A play by Mr. Arnold Bennett, Don Juan de Marana, arouses hopes and curiosity. It is privately printed, and appears in the charming white and pale blue guise with which we have come to associate Mr. George Moore in his later manifestations.
A terrifying row of novels, with dust-covers of every conceivable form and hue, lies before rne. From them I select Young Felix, by Frank Swinnerton, who has already proved himself a novelist of distinction ; The Red Red- maynes, by Eden Phillpotts Vindication, by Stephen McKenna, and Thy Neighbour's Wife, .by Liam O'Flaherty. The first three are published by Messrs. Hutchinson, the last- mentioned by Mr. Jonathan Cape. Those who have recently noticed one or two very striking sketches by Mr. O'Flaherty in the New Statesman will be strongly tempted to look into his first novel, which deals with life in the Aran Islands.
Next week's number of the Spectator will contain a Literary Supplement which will deal mainly, though not exclusively, with translations. The number of important translations recently published of books ancient and modern—ranging from French and Italian to Arabic and Chinese, and including a great variety of subjects—is sufficient to provide a supple- ment of considerable variety and interest.. THE LITERARY EDITOR.
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