ANNALS OF MAYCHESTER By S. L. Bensusan Annals of Mayehester
(Routledge, 12s: 6d.), by Mr. S. L. Bensusan, is a collection of short stories and sketches, arranged to give a picture of a year's life in the heart of rural Essex. Although the same characters recur, the sketchei are too complete in themselves to hold together as a book, and pleasant as many of them are separately, in mass they grow wearisome. The claim that Mr. Berisusan is doing for Essex what Hardy did for Dorsetshire (made by the late Mr. Cunninghame Graham in a preface) —preserving the essence of a county which still retains a strong individuality —is hardly borne out by the present volume. Mr. Bensusan is a good journalist, 'which means he is a good observer and a competent writer. It alsO means that he aims primarily at creating a short, quick impression of his subject rather than a lasting one. Thus, the reader hops from scene to some, as if he were reading a pile of magazines all full of the same sort of stories about the mine people. Essex may be flat, but it is not monotonous.
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