27 MARCH 1926, Page 41

Nell Gwyn. By Marjorie Bowen. (Hodder and Stough- ton. 3s.

6d. net.)-Miss Marjorie Bowen's rather sombre talent seems hardly adapted to the portrayal of the Court of the Restoration, and especially to the life of the light-hearted orange girl who charmed her royal master with her laughter and her faithful heart. However, the claims of the film are paramount, and Miss Bowen has accordingly hurled her scholarship and given a striking picture. of the exuberance and squalor of Charles the Second's Court. As:is.-perhips natural the writing is not quite up to Miss Bowen's usual standard, and the reader will have an uneasy feeling that each chapter is obliged to provide as a sine qua non the proper sub-titles.