7 DECEMBER 1929, Page 20

A gay book overflowing with high spirits is welcome "at

any time, most of all after the nuts and wine of Christmas. We know of no more agreeable reading than The Three Cornered Hat—a translation by Martin Armstrong of the immortal Spanish tale by Pedro Antonio de Alarcon, now published in a more accessible edition (Gerald Howe, 7s. (id.) With that humour which is one of the great attainments of the Spanish genius the author records a double triumph of wifely virtue and the discomfiture of the pompous Corregidor, that famous figure in his scarlet cloak and enormous hat which we remember in the Russian ballet. The illustrations,- by Norman Tealby, are in keeping—gay and splendiferous and entirely successful. * * *