Out to Grass WILLIAM, OR MORE LOVED THAN LOVING. By
Lord Sadl° (Chapman and Hall, 7s. 6d.) HERE is the self-portrait of a young man who has the couragefi, his convictions and the capacity to express them clearly, brle,‘, and gracefully. William first appeared before the public trves, three years ago, but he seems to have grown fresh rather 05, stale with the passage of time, as if he had been out to ,g1° while the rest of the world has been ploughing through the Though some of the charm of his confessions may he vo as Mr. Waugh points out in his preface, to their picture °14) vanished world, their unheroic hero should arouse more sy111P1 now than in the days when leisure and financial security easier to achieve. He expresses the perennial protest of ,0 individual against the social forces operated to mould his sPc`dcf and behaviour into a conventional shape—forces all the bar,0 to resist if they are animated by love. In William's case theY embodied in his friends and relations, high-minded aunts uncles, gregarious young women, snobbish and ambitious men. In his youth they impressed him and made him unball but now, at the mature age of twenty-four he has seen tbr°,,Ijer them and refuses to be hustled or browbeaten. He will not responsibility or 'pull his weight in the boat,' or read The all through every day, or get married. He has learnt how to Poi his mentors off against each other and thus to secure a little corner for himself, where he is free from the tyraral)ofe good form. He is strengthened by the perception that he is 1.450 loved than loving and is therefore immune to hostile criticitio The only drawback to this position is that he is afraid of burial . the feelings of those who love him and has to be much 44) to them than they are to him. He is most at ease in the coilve of his social and financial inferiors, or of people who put tliond selves in the wrong, for he feels these are quite defenceless entail no obligations on his part.
Altogether, William is not the type we are taught to a-„cil but he will wake sympathetic echoes in many hearts. pressure is exerted by groups and parties rather than by failrow nowadays, but is all the more severe and harder to resist. example should encourage secret nonconformists, and fr011:1 ol confessions they can learn useful lessons in the noble a,: act self-defence. They may find it harder to imitate his candonA' poise, his absence of boastfulness and false modesty an' deceptively simple style in which he imparts his experiences. loo
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