22 SEPTEMBER 1923, Page 22

Robert Burns. By Andrew Dakers. (Chapman and Hall. 10s. 63.

net.)

If Robert Burns needs hero-worship and whitewash, Mr. Dakers' book has been :written to some purpose. There are many better biographies, and Mr. Dakers' criticism is not particularly able. He saves his readers the trouble of inter- preting the facts of Burns' life by constant long explanations ; and in consequence he divests Burns of all the reality that his incongruities give him. But if there still exist people who deny the beauty of Burns' poems through doubt of his morals, Mr. Dakers will set them right ; and some may find his enthusiasm contagious.