THE LANGUAGE OF THE BIRDS. By Adolf Paul. (Alfred Montgomery,
Whitehall House, S.W. 1. 2s. 6d. net.) —Adolf Paul is a Swiss dramatist of considerable reputation, and an obvious Continental. We can recognize a Teutonic dramatist from all others by his passionate seriousness in philosophy, sociology and sex. The moral of this comedy is briefly that a man, to be happy, must keep his women-folk in hand. The chief personae are Solomon, who is portrayed as knowing this truth from his wisdom and wide experience ; Sabud, who comes to the verge of ruin by an idealistic love; and Abishag, a woman. The Language of the Birds is a strong, capable Strindbergian play, and it is a pity that Mr. Arthur Travers-Borgstroem, who has translated it, thought that Solomon spoke as Solomon sang, and that he sang in these accents : " Art silent ? " " Ha, ha ! A picture of thy marriage this, I trow."
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