Parnassian Molehill : An Anthology of Suffolk Verse. Compiled by
the Earl .of Cranbrook. With drawings by John Nash. Limited edition of 500 copies. (Ipswich : W. S. Cowell. £2 12s. 6d.) VERSE of the order of The Stuffed Owl pro- vides an agreeable drawing-room diversion. When related to its sociaYor topographical background it can also achieve an absolute value as an illustration of cultural history. Lord Cranbrook, a Suffolk " worthy " who has giyen much public service to county, prints in this eruditely annotated anthology some superb examples of gas-works-and- graveyard verse, by inglorious but far from mute Miltons, alongside such lovely lyrics as Suckling's " Why so pale and wan, fond lover ? " and such immemorial Suffolk poetry as that of Robert Bloomfield, Crabbe and Bernard Barton. For all its charms as a curiosity, however, the book possesses no little value as a cross-section—or a vertical slice—of literary history, from John Gower to the two anonymous Bungay scholars of today, whose Latin, rendering of " The Foggy, Foggy Dew" concludes the volume.
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