11 NOVEMBER 1922, Page 44

THE LONDON MERCURY.

In this month's Mercury Mr. Powys Edwards draws Mr, lilunden fairly well and Mr. Robert Graves most unintelli- gently. The poems are rather uninteresting, but Mr. Squire is good in a one-act comedy on the Bacon and Shakespeare controversy, and Mr. Maurice Baring in an article called " The Alternative " is excellent. Mr. Baring has gravely considered what would have happened if Napoleon had gone into the British Navy as planned, if Alfred de Musset had turned diplomat, and if Charles Dickens had become an actor. Perhaps the rather solemn section on " Cardinal Lord Byron " is the most delightful—" a writer better known now for his sermons than his lyrics." Mr. Cyril Falls's article on Barri,s is of interest.