',cites and 'cousin' William's disreputable finan- "n1 tr ansactions (largely with

borrowed capital) past India stock. Edmund's hands were clean leiss Sutherland, in an appendix, disposes of Cstory that he borrowed £6,000 from his ron Lord Verney, and afterwards denied the li°) but he knew of William's speculations, hasm , Preoared to profit by them if successful

defended him with immoderate zeal.

JOHN BROOKE

Good and Beautiful

Macdonald acdonald Sisters. By A. W. Baldwin. ,r (Peter Davies, 30s.) t% frontispiece of Lord Baldwin's book, The ti luifledonald Sisters, shows four poignantly beauti- w°men. They were four of the eleven children k the Reverend George Browne Macdonald, a elhodist minister like his father before him It t,1°ne of his sons after him. Mr. Macdonald's ":lY came from Skye: his wife, Hannah Jones, trip, the daughter of a Methodist tradesman nallY from Wales. From this wholly Celtic pock, from a family good and happy far beyond

common tot, came the four girls who are

subject of this book. Alice, the eldest nhter surviving to womanhood, married John jv,l(wood Kipling, and became the mother of C,II'ard. Georgina was the wife of Sir Edward et,'Ile-Jones (surely one of the nicest men who er lived), Agnes of Sir Edward Poynter, and 4uRNs Study of the Poems and Songs 14°MAS CRAWFORD

"A first-rate critical study, scholarly, independent and comprehensive. An admirable commentary on Burns and his critics, the masterly analysis and revaluation for which we have waited so

long." The Scotsman

' The fullest, best documented and on the whole the most interesting study

that has appeared in recent years." Edwin Morgan in the Glasgow Herald

" A really great hot* about Burns covering every aspect of his genius." Aberdeen Press and Journal PRICE 35s.

FAGS AND THISTLES

'1)NEy GOODSIR SMITH "One of Scotland's greatest poets here assembles nearly forty of his best

works." John O'Londons PRICE Its. 6d.

OLIVER & BOYD

But to suggest that these girls made 'good' marriages in the worldly sense .of the word is entirely to misunderstand their quality and the nature of the family that formed them. John Kipling, himself the son of a Methodist minister, was an Indian Civil Servant. Ned Jones and Edward Poynter had hardly enough money for the simplest honeymoons. Certainly Alfred Bald- win was a wealthy industrialist, but this very fact caused Louie much hesitation before she accepted him. His letters to her during his court- ship, begging her help in enabling him to use his property according to God's will, are among the most moving in the book. The Macdonald girls married good men. Their own exceptional quali- ties led them to husbands worthy of them. What were their qualities? They were highly strung, almost neurotic, plagued by less than good health. But they were gay and loving, and creative in the vitality and loving kindness they brought to living. The four sisters acted as catalytic agents to their husbands' work—and to each other and to everyone they met.

Lord Baldwin writes of them with great love and respect, and in a curiously old-fashioned style that suits his subject well. One can recommend this book without reservations to .almost all readers. Its incidental felicities include some acquaintance with Morris, Ruskin and the 'Trilby' menage in Paris, and much information interesting to amateurs of Rudyard Kipling. The new evidence here does little to dispel the psychological mystery of Alice Kipling's decision to leave her children at Southsea and not with her family; Lord Baldwin's suggestion of the echo behind 'Danny Deever' rings with poetic truth. But what most pleases in this book is its flavour of decency and intelligence seeking shapely, moral lives. Like the novels of Charlotte Yonge, it leaves the reader morally refreshed. Grandad with Snails Michael Baldwin

John Wain says: "It struck me as that rare thing, a book true to the experience of childhood in its rapidity, its timelessness, its horror, and its laughter." 15s. Out today.

Social Life in Early England Edited by Geoffrey Barraclough

Nine essays. Historical Association covering English social history from the Roman Settlement to the Reformation. Essayists include Sir Frank Stenton, Hamilton Thompson and G. G. Coulton. Plans, maps and illustrations. 2111.

Class in American Society Leonard Reissman

A systematic analysis of what class means for the American and how class affects his behaviour. 42s.