12 JANUARY 1918, Page 16

THE NATIONAL REVIEW DIARY.*

WE have delayed too long to notice Mr. Maxse's admirable new number of the Potsdam Diary, now to be called, however, The National Review Diary. Mr. Maxse is to be admired and con- gratulated by every one who loves a good quotation, but it is very difficult for the quotationist not to envy him alio. He seems to be able to tap sources of supply which are beyond those of the ordinary man of literary memory.

In the case of most anthologies one recognizes ninety per cent. of the quotations at once, and then generally finds the remaining one-tenth of new stuff poor and empty. Here one only recognizes about ten per cent., and finds the new ninety per cent. all stimulating and amusing. The present reviewer has just opened The National Review Diary at hazard, and this is what he finds for Thursday, May 30th, 1918: " I weep for your depravity, sir. I mourn over your corruption: I pity your voluntary withdrawal from the flowery paths of purity and peace."—Mn. PECSarmF to MARTIN Cfluzzrzwrr.

On the opposite page—i.e., May 31st—is the following charming passage :— " England is Hell ! Its inhabitants are all devils. Its soldiers are Satan's warriors. Its politicians are fiends. Down with Eng- land ! "—Da. Taana at the Lowenbraue Beer House.

Take another example, which is delightfully d propos of nothing, and yet extremely amusing :—

"My brother Arthur is a f001."—LORD WELLESLEY'S judgment on the Duke of Wellington.

For January 2nd there is a glorious quotation from Dr. Johnson :- " I am not yet so lost in lexicography as to forget that words are the daughters of earth, and that things are the sons of Heaven." But still more glorious in fact, though not in language, is the last quotation in the Diary :— " I may say that the information I have from our marine depart- ment is that not a single sailor has refused to sign on ' because of the perils of the sea."—Ma. RIINCIMAN, House of Commons, February, 1916.

All good luck to The National Review Diary, and may Mr. Maxse for many years to come be given the opportunity to supply the world with quotations, happy, poignant, and indiscreet !

• The National Review Diary, 1918. Compiled by L. J. Kane, London : Blu National Review Office, 43 Duke Street, 8k James's. IBA. usta