BOOKS IN BRIEFEST
Tim late Sir Rickman Godlee's A Village on the Thames (Allen, is: 6d.) is a gem. Reading this book is ince taking a country ramble with a friend (emphatically with a friend) who will chat to you delightfully on place-names, village history and church architecture, bid you note the t-t-t-trrr Of the wood-viren, and in the snowtime explain the adventures of the birds and beasts which have left their marks on the tell-tale surface. The book is a living page of history— natural and civil. * * Equally delightful though wider and more definitely literary in scope, is Mr. F. V. Morley's River Thames from Source to Mouth (Methuen, li3s.), the story of how the good ship Wife of Bath crept down river all the way from Lechlade to the Nom. A book in which very much pleasant browsing can be enjoyed, it tells you all about river-navigation and river-sights, and lets you land often and explore and admire whatever takes your fancy—literary, historical, or artistic. The water colour illustrations are charming. * * * The Bermondsey Book (Heinemann, 2s.) for June is worth getting, if only for Mr. Drinkwater's study of the poetry of Sir Edmund Gosse, and- some Curiosities about Mr. Aldous Huxley, who, it is nice to -know, "has but little in common with the people .in his books " ! * • • Mars at its Nearest (A L'Enseigne de l'Hermine, Dinard, 6s.), by Mr. G. H. Hall, will appeal mainly to astronomers. The author holds that the dark areas observable on the surface of Mars are vegetational regions " watched over and cultivated by sentient beings." * * * A reissue of Mr. T. F. Bumpus' The Cathedrals and Churches of Italy (Laurie, 31s. 6d.) will be welcomed by all who. have known. that excellent book in its three-volume form. Rather an out-size for the pocket (it weighs 2i lbs.), the -book is indispensable for the study of any person who seeks an informed interpretation of the meaning and the beauty of Italian Church architecture. It is gloriously illustrated. * * * Under the Rose (Bodley Head, 7s. f3d.) is described as by Anatole France, but would be more justly styled annotations by M. Michael Corday on the fragments of some dialogues which Anatole France intended to write under that title. From the framework and such scattered bricks as, "The figures of most women being imperfect, modesty serves them in good stead," one may interestedly infer what the completed structure would have looked like. * * * The American Task in Persia (Laurie,. 15s.) is to an extent reminiscent of Morier's immortal lia.111 Baba. Dr. Millspaugh went to Persia to set right that coun- try's shaky finances, but yet found time to note and to record some of the psychology and manners of the Persian, who even in the East is acknowledged a past master in politeness and humbuir
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