Shorter Notices
Midnight Hour. By Nicodemus. (Faber. 13s. 6d.)
This unusual book will be appraised by different readers differently. It is the record of a conflict of soul covering a period of five months in 1941, the writer's problem being whether he could, and should, take Holy Orders. Having at last resolved his doubts, he is refused ordination in the end as the consequence of the publication of an article (an extract from this diary) in which he declared inter aba that " they who ally themselves with the Church of England ally themselves with death and go down in spirit to a grave of the spirit" Opinions will, and must, differ as to the proper limits of intro- spection. This is a very concentration of introspection, and the question is inevitably raised whether total severance, even ff only for five months, from the toil and travail of the world at such a crisis in the world's destiny is the best medicine for a troubled spirit or the highest fulfilment of service to htimanity. It is ex- plained that this journal was never intended for publication, but it is hard to conceive wherein it differs from a journal that was. Some passages are marked by true spontaneity, some are as unmistakably artificial, and several are inevitably reminiscent of the writings of Michael Fairless. To some minds the book will make a strong appeaL
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