THIS WEEK'S BOOKS
Ma. J. B. PRIESTLEY, whose book, The English Cantle Charac- ters, has been published by the Bodley Head, is in the old humanistic tradition of litterateurs. He is more appreciative than critical ; he takes no great pains to erect standards for his own judgments, but writes in easy, competent style in praise of great writers. So he makes excellent casual reading, and we can be sure when we begin upon one of his essays that we shall find _lively quotations well displayed, and a fund of common sense and generosity. In his latest book he includes articles on the more notable comic characters in Shakespeare, Fielding, Sterne, Peacock and Dickens. It has, therefore,
much the same attraction as an excellent urbane collection of anecdotes, threaded together to prevent tedium.
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