Some Books of the Week
EDWARD CARPENTER wrote his own life in My Days and Dreams, but he left ample room for the delightful volume of recollections and tributes and estimates which a number of his friends have published (Edward Carpenter in Appre- ciation, Allen and Unwin, 7s. 6d.). This is no foolish ebullition of sentiment or over-praise. The sketches set forth the man as the writers knew him. Some, like Mr. H. S. Salt, dwell more upon the crusty, others more upon the crumby part of the loaf. All contribute something that is of value, all are moved by affectionate, though not unreflecting regard. Carpenter, for all his seeming simplicity, was not all of a piece. Here we get the different facets of him turned towards us one after the other. The result upon most people will be to make them like him better than before. Perhaps the Prime Minister sums him up (so far as that is possible) most happily : " If some people find that causes which he advocated do not always commend themselves to their reason, they must remember that he was a poet ; if his poetry sometimes seems to them to lack the form and dignity which their literary judgment requires, they must remember that he was also a reformer."
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