24 MAY 1930, Page 20

The two friends who make the Joyous Pilgrimage, described by

R. Francis Foster (Elkin Mathews and Marrot, 7s. 6d.), are persuaded that the trains, the road traffic, and ribbon development generally have touched only the surface of English life in the Eastern Counties. - Once away from the high road they are sure that things are as they were, and they almost persuade the reader to agreement. Mr. Foster is a most skilful writer. He chronicles the 'humorous events of a walking tour in slightly archaic language, but the affec- tation is so light-hearted that it never palls upon us, and seems the_right vehicle for the interpretation of the countryside as he sees it, and perhaps also for life as he sees- it, through the eyes of a mediaevalist. There is something original and fantasticilly fresh about the whole thing. Those who read his former book, The Secret Places, will rejoice to hear that he has again taken the road. Those who begin with the Pilgrimage will hasten to find out the " Secret. Places."

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