5 SEPTEMBER 1903, Page 27

Catiban's Guide to Letters. By Hilaire Bello°. (Duckworth and Co.

2s. net.)—The paper on "The Short Lyric" is, we think, the best in the volume. The minor poet is the most uninteresting person in the world—at least in print—and we are greatly obliged to any one who turns him to a good use. Mr. Bello° is not always as successful. He is clever enough—that we knew before —but he lacks good-nature. And the satire is not always on the same plan. The biography of Dr. Caliban, who looks very much like a recently deceased preacher of note, is of a subtle kind of humour. It might possibly be taken seriously by a moderately stupid person. But the methods ascribed to the reviewer are simply farcical.