The Book of Friendship. Arranged by Arthur Ransome. (T. C.
and E. C. Jack. 6s. net.)—It has been said, and there is a certain force in the contention, that friendship is a lost possession of man- kind. It has been driven out by the rise of woman to her proper place as the companion of man. However this may be, it is a good thing to have this admirable tribute, whether we are to count it an encomium or an epitaph. Mr. Ransome has collected many testimonia, ancient and modern, and arranged them in a very attractive way. First come the passages which tell of the love between David and Jonathan; then follow some passages from Proverbs and Ecclesiasticus, and after this we have a translation of the "De Amicitia" of Cicero. Cicero is followed by some aphorisms from the "Hitopadesa." and others from Montaigne. And so we pass on, commonly in chronological order, though there are departures on fit occasion. Lyly, Bacon, Richard Burton of the "Anatomy" are near neighbours, as also are Ben Jenson and Beaumont. Of course we have "Lycidas," though, as a matter of fact, John King was rather the occasion than the subject of that splendid poem. Matthew Arnold's " Thyrsis," which comes later, is a different matter. King is but a name, as, indeed, Keats is in "Adonis," but Clough lives for us in " Thyrsis." We need not follow Mr. Ransome any further. It will suffice to say that ho has made an admirable collection of wit, wisdom, and pathos, and has set it off to the best advantage by his arrangement.
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