SOME BOOKS OF THE WEEK.
[Natio* in this column doss not necessarily prealude subsequent review.] The London Mercury for March has a lively article by .Ma Max Beerbohm, " On Servants " :— " When the news of tihe fall of the Bastille was brought to him, the first Lord Lansdowne (1 conceive) remained for many hours in his study, lost in thought, and at length, rising from his chair, went Out into the hall and discharged two footmen. This action may have shortened his life, but 1 believe it to be a fact that when he lay dying, some fifteen years later, he said to his
heir; ' Discharge two more.' Such enlightenment and adapta- bility were not to be wondered at in so eminent a Whig."
Professor Lethaby writes well on " Architecture as a Fornx in Civilization," insisting on the civic value of old buildings which exemplify the sense of historic continuity, and on the importance of " fine bridges, clean, smiling streets, liberal public buildings," since " a civilized life cannot be lived in undisciplined towns." Mr. Orlo Williams predicts that the delightful writings of Miss Somerville and " Martin Ross " will be " A Little Classic of the Future," as they certainly deserve to be. Mr. Aldous Huxley recalls the " Forgotten Satirists "—Settle, Pordage, Fleeknoe- whom Dryden attacked in the Popish Plot controversy. There is a liberal supply of new verse. Month by month the London Mercury broadens its outlook on literature and the arts, and its news is comprehensive and interesting.
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