Peter Paragon. By john Palmer. (Martin Seeker. 6s.)— This is,
we imagine, Mr. Palmer's first novel, and it is a fine piece of work. He calls it, on the title-page, "a tale of youth": it is scarcely a tale—rather a study of a boy's adolescence, of the effect on him of Oxford and London, of women and friends, of the gradual discoveries of intellect and *ex. Neither subject-matter nor language is always refined, but at least they belong to idealism and romance, and are a relief from the innuendo and materialism of the ultra-moderns. You mast discover for yourself the enchanting humour of those Oxford days when Peter " became a leading character in the intel- lectual set. They jested in good Greek, filling their heads with knowledge they affected to despise, taking in vain the theories of their masters, merrily playing with their grand. sires' bones of learning." Through the whole story runs
slender satire, sometimes lightly veiled, now and then with bared and biting teeth ; but, whether satire or sketch, it is delightful: our only moments of boredom come when we are parted from Peter to follow the fates of less entertaining folk.
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