War Songs. Selected by Christopher Stone. (The Clarendon Press. 2s.
6d. net.)—Sir Ian Hamilton writes an introduction in -which he makes some noteworthy points. He strikes, so to speak, -11 blow for the war-song, and, whoever may "prate peace," he takes the hearts of nine-tenths of his readers with him, for, indeed, war music, whether it be of wind or string, rouses only too readily
"the wild beast force, Whose home is in the sinews of a man."
And he tells us in some most interesting pages what soldiers really like. One remarkable story we must quote. Something less than twenty years ago a song, "Fighting with the Seventh Royal Fusiliers," was written ; it so moved the young men of the time that the 7th could have raised additional battalions, and recruiting, which was not particularly brisk elsewhere, had to be stopped for a year. The anthology, which is chronologically arranged—the earlier poems are furnished with glossaries— contains eighty-seven poems. The first two are "Bannockburn" and "The Sea-Fight at Slays "; the last two "The Private of the Buffs" and "The Red Thread of Honour," both by Sir Francis Doyle.—With this we may mention with warm praise The Tripled Crown (Henry Frowde,' 3s. 6d. net). It is described as ".A. Book of English, Scotch, and Irish Verse for the Age of Six to Sixteen," and is said to have been "Chosen and Arranged by Three of That Age." The "Three" have done very well, and they have been able to overcome copyright difficulties, so that we have a most representative and generally satisfactory collection.
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