11 AUGUST 1923, Page 22

Splashing into Society. By Iris Barry. (Constable. 4s. 6d. )

This is a very amusing satire on modern Mayfair, writter by a super-civilized and sophisticated adult in the manner of The Young Visiters. It has not the extraordinary direct- ness which made that book so famous, and the artifice of its manufacture is here and there apparent. But even that artifice is used as part of the fantastic ornament in which the rather mordant wit of the author is draped. There are again and again turns of phrasing quite Chaplinesque in their appeal—verbal side-glances and footplay, as it were, which evoke a sense of irresponsible pleasure in the reader.