The Lady of the Beef. By F. Frankfort• Moore. (Hutchinson
and Co. 6s.)—It is at those moments when Mr. Moore forgets that he is a novelist that we gain the greatest enjoyment from his novels. The plots of his stories tend towards an obvious- ness of development and a use of conventional coincidence which are typical of the work of lesser men. It is when he thinks aloud—a most engaging habit in a clever writer—and bewilders us with his shrewd observation and intimacy, that he is altogether delightful. Moreover, his skill in characteriza- tion, to use a hackneyed phrase, is exceptional; for he wastes no time on the emotions which are common to humanity, or on physical attributes, but emphasizes just those few details which are individual and personal. So far as his latest story is concerned, it is a study in contrasts and in growth, written round the figure of one Walter Massaroon, who (here are the contrasts) leaves his studio in Paris and its untrammelled life to become the landowner of Portavad, Ireland; and (here is the growth) comes to consider his neighbours as men and women to be reckoned with, not despised, to estimate at their proper value the virtues and vices of the Ulsterman, and to yield himself to the indisputable charms of the " Lady of the Reef."
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