BOOKS
THIS WEEK'S BOOKS.
VOLTAIRE'S Philosophical Dictionary is the vade-mecum of the satirist, the ironist, the intellectual revolutionary, and the " man of this world." It should set a rationalist up in table-talk for a life-time. Mr. H. I. Woolf publishes with Messrs. Allen and Unwin a selection of the happiest articles, admirably translated. Mr. Richard Aldington, who has helped, for a long time, to keep the anonymity of reviews in the Times Literary Supplement impressive, publishes a volume of Literary Studies and Reviews (Allen and Unwin). It is the first chance we have had of knowing for certain the author of many of the most erudite, acute, and balanced articles in modern criticism. In The Fabulous Forties (Putnam) Mr. Mead Alinnigerocle has described with great brightness the astonishing social
and literary life of America when Barnum was lying and roaring his way to fame, when the mania and the romance of gold-prospecting was at height, and when the whole country sang, with tears and satisfaction :—
" Oft thou bast told me, Mother dear, Subtle man I'd cause to fear-- Thou a saint in yonder skies, Still thy warning voice I prize ; But if he would still pursue, Mother dear, what could I do ? Let this little tear proclaim, Mother, I was not to blame."
A novel which has already gained fame in America is pub- lished here by The Bodley Head, The Puppet Master, by Robert Nathan. Mr. E. D. Cumming has written, from new, unpublished material, a biography of Robert Smith Surtees (Blackwood).
Mr. Maurice Woods has composed A History of the Tory Party (Hodder and Stoughton). A biography of Dr. John Clifford, by Sir James Merchant, comes from Messrs. Cassell.
Katharine Tynan (Mrs. Hinkson) adds a volume of Memories (Nash and Grayson) to the great mass of valuable material
dealing with modern literary, political and social history.
The most beautifully produced book comes, of course, from The Nonesuch Press ; it is a selection from the work of Henry Vaughan, and includes, as well as the poems, an essay, and
two letters from manuscript.
THE LITERARY EDITOR.
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