Fiction r

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folly. He is not in any sense a Hardy—but he is a very , good Phillpotts ; and—another misfortune—he-is; with the English writers. The Human Boy (Much of him first class, as an ex-schoolmaster can testify) : The Red Redmaynes, and other excellent detective stories : fables and histories named A Shadow Passes : books of every kind have flowed

from his industrious pen in shedr. numbers, he Must '

.

This, though of late Years soniething of his IN. -Orth has been it

recognized in critical quarters; has also told- against .

brought him, in the ripe auturnn of his : days, material : • • - I emphasize, all this h lav ecause he often found people. un- in Judgmeni, Widdecombe Fair and The Thief of Virtue are immeasurably superior to many novels of country life that confidence never read' their Phillpotts , and readers ' : whom 0I ' sent • d to him have readily admitted that they. had no idea what ,

they were Misaing: His new 'novel, Bred the kale; 'clffeit Plates is. sharp -and vigorous.i.. The iplat need :not be detailed.

an ex Two young,en. marry unsuitably and, repent in the leisure excellent chance to make his acquaiatance. , It is given rit that Lawrence Bryden has gone abroad from North Wood, 4

near Okehampton, leaving his intended bride, Avis Ullathorne, at Cambridge. It does not matter which. Nothing matters, for his brother -Peter; whom she prefers. • About a fortnight in the ,end,„ but the, curious, individual quality of Lady Longford's mind, which makes a page' of her work' unlike a after his supposed departure, however, Lawrence's body is

found in a eressbed, in the Meavy valley. It is soon 'anidiient to the reader that Peter and Avis know more than they care fatuous: to say ; and, fr9m the pond of view of sheer. craft.sinanship, "The bridegroom was at Cambridge, wasn't he'

I have never admired Mr. Phillpotts' skill so much as in the ` Oh, ,he was at yes, but a lot Chtfora:' of:Irish, boys . go to Cambridge.'" first two hundred pages of this story:— There is more than 0 skill to admire—much more. The slow Nemesis that overtakes Or,, if you prefer it,

Peter, and Avis' unavailing fight against it, are magnificently -"-' a.lnart in:Sinda,', she :said: raisingi.her.voice to a pitch

unfolded. Many lovers of Dartmoor had feared that Mr. t, 'who had seen the rope-trick, the rope-trtck—with his own eyes.' Phillpotts' novels of the moor were ended. Here is one that Stuff and nonsense,' said Lord Enniskerry. `Don't believe a shows him entering' upon a new lease of creative. Wei the word'. of first of a-trilogy. •_" Character is destiny," he says and the , , characterization of this novel is sound and strong. I urge ` India is not *hat it used to be/ said ‘the Old gentleman" all who like a solid, well-built, deliberate story in. the, grand :7 ! •

manner to read Bred in the Bone, Its one fault is itti. ,

Mn. PHILLPOTTS . has never been permitted to enjoy the

variety of reasons for this, some his fault, but many his ' Phillpotts' old enemy, an occasional prolixity : and a medical and I suspect that in these first books, excellent though friend assures me that arsenic does not kill in twenty they are, she is only sharpening her pen. Meanwhile, her minutes. , ' - ,.1

have roused -high expectations of her first •novel : and, The'ecintinuoiisly -find ignominiouslY. iri i'public-tifabe:::').Which, Crooked Laburnum will not disappoint them. It inclines, as far aS I am concerned, is -quite enough to go on with. slightly towards the sentimental lather than'to the " stark .." ': ' , 0 -. , • • e .;.= - - • t ; : . s ...i.:.. school of Scottish fiction, but it is no mere kailyard story. In MRS. TAYLOR. By Marjorie Worthington. (Cape. 7s. 6d.)

the history of Effie McPhail Mrs. MacKenzie has wisely not —Mrs. Taylor was one of those who put things before people.

attempted too much, and the result is a piece of, work of , Her house and garden always-came first, atid,:svhen her husband which hirdly a page lacks its quiet- distinction. ' It' takes ,: died, she set' herself, with Tenewed energY.to look afteilhent. full cognizance of the sterner realities of life, but they do A well-written, essentially feminine study of American life, :upon the ,work, of Mr.. W. H. Davies. The note of another

:, possible exception of Mr. Belloc, the most versatile of living century is caught, not imitated amid the circumstance and

setting of our own: -Mr. Knightrider appears, on the face of

it, to be an unpractised but exceedingly talented writer who has deeply pondered the picaresque romances of the eighteenth verse, much of it,good : an admirable little-book Of sketches century. The autobiography of Richard Fitz Chimes is a lively document. hero was born LinColrishire; knocked .about generally,: went • to Canada, -became a navvy and an approach the output of the indefatigahle Mr. G. B. Burgin. evangelist's assistant, met, and, after due vicissitude, married a be beautiful Young heiress. The style vrieS between the nail

Richard pretends. to, be a good deal simpler than he is) and

by an irony, have the plays that have drawn the town, and the attractively portly. Passages that stand out are those describing the two boys with their shotgun, the "amorous

prosperity .0 ,1* ; : ; , , dalliance with Willy, the dlicomitorts of navvy .;.work, the

evangelist's use of his Bible, and Sylvia's treatment at the

willing to give Mr. Phillpoits afair trial. the Mother, The 'Virgin •hands of the specialists: The *hole story is quite extra-

ordinarily attractive, and I recommend it with the greatest for holiday reading and Tor 'keetia have been praised, with bated , breath by critics who have Lady Longford's second novel is even better than her Or, and cuts a good, dcal deeper.. Her. humour Ilickers as wickedly as ever, but the social criticism underlying Country eountryunise '' tine was at Oxford, the other page; of anyone- else's. - She remains. a past -mistress of the

No;' ; ; .• • that did not suit it.nor her subj

he Bp* ,the man,throv.- the rope Up iiPthe air, el* b

up it'but-of sight ' !Unlike her _ , Lady ngford never raises her Lady Brown; 'La Lo The Crooked Laburnum. By Orgill MacKenzie. (Dent. 7)3.60 Cildeltsitii4 child's faculty for throwing off vexatious and The Road Home. By Marian McNeill. (Maclehose. 7a. 6d!)

h# tp4 :things and enjoying the passing moment. The book

Country Places. By Lady Longford. (Gollancz. 78. 8d.) is 'evenly written, and no scene stands out : but the passage between Effie, and Mrs. Bird, after McPhail has taken hold

s dyte

critical recognition that is his' due. There. of Mrs; Bird'hanria7an example of a difficult ace handled have been a ,; with not word tob many. The pOrtraits;---particularly

misfortune. The first misfortune was the label of "the those of Mrs. McPhail and of Effie's sister, are Well drawn. Devonshire Hardy," affixed by some dead and gone reviewer. It looks as if Mrs. MacKenzie were destined to be an ornament Labels of this kind can never do any good, and this one to modern Scottish letters. did Mr. Phillpotts a great deal of harm. It not only Another Scottish novel is The Road Home. It has not the ,

suggested that he . was an imitator ; it exposed him to the distinction of Mrs. MacKenzie's, but is a thoroughly pleasant, dislike of those who did not like Hardy. It may be true unassuming story about a girl from the Orkneys. Front that if there had:been no Hardy there °would have been Glasgow University her fortunes take her ita- Landon, to no Phillpotts' Dartmoor cycle ; but, questions of Merit apitrt, Germany,. back -to war work in London,- threlugh trial and the outlook, torrifier and Manner of the two are 'quite unlike. tribulation'.with Gilyan; to an. epilogue tit Monaehan in the Mr. Phillpotts acknowledges no fate external to his Characters. Hebrides. Morag is a likeable, natural girl, and her story They are the victims of themselves. Accident he does can be recommended to 'pass a pleasant afternoon.

acknowledge, as in the case of the steam-roller driver in The reader who knows his Defoe and his Fielding will The Mother, but only for the purpose of demonstrating human feel, when he comes upon Dicky Chimes, much as those who knew their Caroline poets must have felt when they came

; . • voice: She is a writer of cv-1 1 1) m almost anything is possible, ,, ' "0 , '; account of they tenantry giving a ,wedclidg present, ,alld her The quality of Mrs. MacKenzie's Poems and Stories will .sYnopsis of a Play in the Abbey. Theatre, made me laugh