17 SEPTEMBER 1927, Page 21

We read. most of Mr. A. P. Herbert's verse as

it appears In Punch, but decidedly it is worth re-reading in book form. The publishers have put our enthusiastic comments on his 1,a,st volume, She Shanties, on the wrapper of 'his latest, Jane (Fisher, Unwin, 5s.), and we need only repeat _What we then said, that he is a master artist of light verse, without a -peer in our opinion. Miss Zinkeisen's illustrations have grace, charm, and the contagious spirit of abandon that we find also in the text. Mr. Herbert would disown being a moralist, but the "Five o'Clock Fairies" nearly moved us to tears, so near are the twin chords of emotion in man. This is a book which one buys as a present and then puts on one's

own shelf. * * * *