11 APRIL 1931, Page 28

The Magazines

In the Nineteenth Century for April the article most deser% of notice is that by the Earl of Crawford and Balcarres, a ve outspoken and an overdue examination of the plight o literary criticism to-day, as it affects the general reader an the pursuit of literature. It should be read by every reviewer Sir Ernest Bennett, on the position and record of th Government, is refreshing in this time of sensational expos for his moderate language and common-sense judgments 0 things and people. An instructive article is that b Professor Coatman on Mr. Gandhi, as seen from a seat in th administration. Three good Conservative articles, th sufficiently described, are by Sir A. Steel-Maitland o rationalization, by Captain Taprell-Dorling on the resul of the London Naval Treaty, and by Mr. George Soloveyie

on the Moscow Trials and the Five-Year Plan. The last mentioned is informative in spite of obvious bias. There is

also -a memoir of Edward Strutt, by Lord Ernie, with other

. .

articles.

In the Contemporary Sir Theodore Morison justifies the Conservative attitude to India on the grounds of India's welfare. Mr. Harold Cox writes on Protection. Mr. Horsfall Carter attempts to unravel the essential drift from the immediate tangle of • Spanish polities. Mr. John Buchan reviews at length Lady Burghelere's Strafford. Mr. Geoffrey Mander is sound, if familiar, on works councils • Mr. F. S. Marvin ruthless and penetrating on the methods and results of modern Egyptian education, in which we may perhaps find a warning ; and Mr. Anthony Dell expressly finds a useful lesson for this country in the Swedish skill in national economic planning. " Easter in the Abruzzi " is a curious, rather precisely written, but delightful travel sketch by Miss E. Lucy Broadbent. " Sheep or Goats " is a strong plea for the doctrine of salvation by works, by " Spes.'

Modern Etching," by Mr. Valer Ferenczy, is a well-pointed survey of the artt to-day, but suffers from a lack of method.

In the Fortnightly the principal articles have only to be named to be appreciated. An unpublished fragment of Walter Pater ; " The Return to Religion," by Mr. G. K. Chesterton ; " England's Crisis," by Mr. Andre Siegfried ;

The Manners of the Age," by Mr. Clifford Bax ; " The Suffragette in Retrospect," by Mrs. Janet Courtney. This makes a good list, especially at the latter end.

Blackwood's, as well as the backwoods and outpost articles, has a very good story, told in correspondence from a master mariner, by Mr. Weston Martyn ; a picturesque, historical discovery, which brings it home how recent are the days of buccaneering in India, as exemplified by one Cormac O'Brien ; and a good short story, " Fiery Furnace," by Lady Frances Balfour.

The Adelphi has a short article by Miss Stella Benson, ". The Correct Reply to an Ass's Bray," which alone is worth the price of the magazine. There is also a fantastic essay on morality by Mr. Aldous Huxley, " Obstacle Race," with an unnecessarily serious rejoinder from Mr. Middleton Murry. Mr. Basil Willey contributes a good character study, " Suburban Prelude," and Mr. Eric Blair a description of a week-end in " The Spike," which is worth attention from our social reformers.