G. K. Chesterton : a Criticism. (Alston Rivers. 5s.) — We must
own that we are among those who think "that this book demands an apology," and we would say further that such an apology cannot in the nature of things be forthcoming. Still, to be candid, we have found it good reading. Mr. Chesterton's critic appreciates him with no small skill, and acts tho part of a candid friend without making us feel that either adjective or substantive loses its force. And we got some excellent things of Mr. Chesterton's own. One of these we must quote, because it seems to us true to the letter. It is from his defence of the "penny dreadful" literature. "It is the modern literature of the educated, not of the uneducated, which is avowedly and aggressively criminal. Books recommending profligacy and pessimism, at which the high-souled errand-boy would shudder, lie upon all our drawing-room tables. If the dirtiest old owner of the dirtiest old bookstall in Whitechapel dared to display books recommending polygamy or suicide, his stock would be seized by the police. These things are our luxuries." After a course of hundreds of present-day novels, we say with all emphasis that Mr. Chesterton is quite right.
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