SOME BOOKS OF THE WEEK.
[Notice in this column doss not necessarily preclude subsequent resins.] Stuff and Nonsense. By Ian Malcolm, M.P. (Hodder and Stoughton. 6s. net)—This is a pleasant, unpretentious book of verses which do not aspire to be poetry, which owe their origin to good humour and high spirits, and which have served their purpose when they have given their reader an hour's easy enter- tainment. They have not the high polish to which modern masters of society verse have accustomed us ; we must admit that even in comic, poetry we cannot see " idea " made to rhyme with " rear " and " formula " with " war " without having at the same time to suppress an inward shudder. But • The Australian Army Mednxil Corps in Egypt B J. perhaps Sir Owen Seaman and Mr. Squire have led us to expect w. Barrett and Lieutenant P. E. Deane. London L. K. Lewls and Co. too much, and those who are not too fastidious to enjoy jolly (12a bd. eat jingles of the type made familiar by The Ingoldsby Legends London T. nailer Unwln. inn. nat.1 Will find much to please them in Mr. Malcolm's work. A couple of
stanzas from his version of the Austrian Peace Note to Wash- ington may be taken as a fairly representative sample of his lighter vein
" Oh ! Friends of our Youth, let us tell you the truth (Which all men may read as they ' run").
We're sick of the war, as we mentioned before, We're sick above all of the Hun.
We admit with remorse that we backed the wrong horse (You've done the same thing in the past).
There's the Mark of the Beast on our cursed Near East, But the Beast has miscarried at last.
He reckoned by work he could captivate Turkey, And really we thought that he had :
He bought up old Ferdinand, counting a bird in hand Two—in Bushire or Bagdad.
But when we found that they both went to ground The moment we wanted to are,
What could we do but cry ' Kamera(' ' too ! Wire not too proud to retire."
Three poems in the little collection are products of a more serious mood. Of these "Take Cover" (written during an air raid on London) is much the best ; but none of them reaches a very high level of poetic sincerity. They express honest and honourable emotions straightforwardly, but without intensity of thought or vividness of phrase; the ideas and the form are too conventional to be quite worthy of the subjects.
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