Mr. Ralph Nevill's new book, Night Life in London and
Paris, Past and Present (Cassell, 16s.), is a lightly written and entertaining chronicle of amusement places and their patrons— chiefly of the past. But the writer knows of what he tells, whether it is of the present Abbaye de Theleme or Perroquet he writes, where the night life of Paris now centres; or of the old Bristol in Cork Street, or of the third Sir Robert Peel who said to a policeman, " Don't think my father created you to arrest me ! " We notice, however, that the London of to-day is scantily dealt with. Only two of the newer restaurants are alluded to—very well-known ones at that —which will make every young man-about-town wonder why the lady whose cooking is famous at a Jermyn Street hotel, and why his particular cabaret (whether it be that one in Dean Street or not, where breakfast tastes so good) have not received an honourable mention. There is a page on jazz, but -what of the tango that every debutante 'would like to learn ? and of that ankle-twisting amble the Charleston ?
* * * *
Previous page
