SOME BOOKS OF THE WEEK.
(Nonce in this column does not necessarily preclude subsequent review.] The London Mercury for December has a clever satirical poem by Mr. James Laver, describing the composition of a sonnet, and poems by Mr. Hardy and Mr. de la Mare. 'Mrs. Warre Cornish contributes some thoughtful " Memories of Tennyson," half a century ago. It is strange that one whose poetry was so full of music should have been entirely unmusical. After hearing Joachim play, Tennyson said : A great deal of the music means nothing at all to me, but I can feel the poetry of the bowing." Mr. G. K. Chesterton has a spirited article on " Milton and Merry England," in defence, mainly, of the Cavaliers and the High Tories. Mr. A. P. Herbert gives an instructive and truthful account of " The London of The Beggar's Opera," from a London Sessions-book of 1733—a horrible record of vice and crime, which reproduces faithfully the evidence of the illiterate defendants and informers. Anyone who supposes that Progress is a mere delusion should read Mr. Herbert's article. Mr. Edward Shanks discusses " The Position in the Theatre," emphasizing the cleavage between the " artistic " drama and the " commercial " drama, and suggesting that " a revival of the poetic drama might conquer the com- mercial theatre and reform it throughout as the drama of Ibsen has failed to do."
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