FROM THEATRE TO MUSIC-HALL. By W. R. Titterton. Crown 8vo, cloth. 3s. 6d. net. This book is neither a history of the drama nor a critical study of well-known playwrights. It is an attempt to account for the weakening of the dramatic sense in modern England, and to explain the enormous importance of the music-hall, and the desperate necessity of maintaining it as a means of popular expression. The theories put forward are bold, and are likely to excite great agreement and great opposition.
THE DOCTOR AND HIS WORK. With a Hint of his Destiny and Ideals. By Charles J. Whitby, M.D. Cantab., Author of “Triumphant Vulgarity,” “Makers of Man,” “A Study of Human Initiative,” etc. Crown 8vo, cloth. Price 3s. 6d. net. In this book the author has reviewed the existing position of the doctor and indicated the signs of a new sociological era in which he will be called upon to accept new and important functions. The profession has in the past consisted of a mere mob of unorganised units; that of the future will be a disciplined army of experts co-operating for the good of the State. “The Doctor and His Work” may be described as a summary of the modern medical point of view. It appeals not less to the lay than to the professional reader.
IRISH HOME RULE. The Last Phase. By S. G. Hobson. Crown 8vo. 3s. 6d. net.
NATIONAL EDUCATION. By Baron von Taube, author of “Manual Training,” “In Defence of America,” “Only a Dog’s Life,” etc. Crown 8vo, Cloth. 3s. 6d. net. Two basic and dominating conceptions underlie the theory of education put forward in this treatise. The first is the necessity for a national education which will evoke, foster, develop and not level down and destroy all the peculiar and unique characteristics which go to make a nation a nation, and endow it with an individuality distinct from that of all other nations. The second is the necessity for the encouragement of originality and the full development of individual capacity, as contrasted with the mass-drill measures which are all too prevalent nowadays. The author’s theories are based on ascertained sociological and psychological data and on numerous practical experiments in pedagogy which have been successfully carried out by him. Discontent with the modern stereotyped system of cram education is increasing daily, and this book should prove a valuable contribution to the literature on this vitally important subject.
BELLES LETTRES
EPISODES OF VATHEK. By William Beckford. Translated by Sir Frank T. Marzials, with an Introduction by Lewis Melville. Medium 8vo, cloth. 21s. net. These Episodes or Eastern Tales, related in the Halls of Eblis, were discovered recently by Mr. Lewis Melville in the archives of Hamilton Palace. They were conceived by Beckford as three episodes complete within themselves, which he proposed to interpolate, in the manner of the “Arabian Nights,” into his famous Oriental story of “Vathek.” The original in French is given after the English translation, and the reader will find this volume extremely interesting both as treasure trove and literature.
SONNETS AND BALLATE OF GUIDO CAVALCANTI. Translated by Ezra Pound. Crown 8vo, cloth. 3s. 6d. net. We have had many translations of the Divina Commedia, a few of the Vita Nuova. Rosetti has translated a miscellany of “Early Italian Poets,” but in these “Sonnets and Ballate” of Guido Cavalcanti we have a new thing, the endeavour to present a 13th century Tuscan poet, other than Dante, as an individual. More than one Italian critic of authority has considered Cavalcanti second to Dante alone in their literature. Dante places him first among his forerunners.
LEAVES OF PROSE, interleaved with verse. By Annie Matheson, with which are included two papers by May Sinclair. Crown 8vo. 5s. net. This volume is composed of a selection of those short studies for which Miss Matheson is so justly famous. Literature, Sociology, Art, Nature, all receive her attention in turn, and on each she stamps the impression of her own personality. The prose is soft and rhythmic, infused with the atmosphere of the country-side, while the lyrics scattered throughout the volume reflect a temperament that has remained equable under the most severe trials. No book more aptly expresses the spirit of Christianity and good fellowship as understood in England.
OFF BEATEN TRACKS IN BRITTANY. By Emil Davies. Crown 8vo, cloth. 7s. 6d. net. In this book the author, who has already won for himself a position in a surprisingly large variety of fields, goes off the beaten track in more than one direction. It is a book of travel, philosophy and humour, describing the adventures, impressions and reflections of two “advanced” individuals who chose their route across Brittany by ruling a straight line across the map from Brest to St. Malo—and then went another way!
IMAGINARY SPEECHES AND OTHER PARODIES IN PROSE AND VERSE. By Jack Collings Squire. Crown 8vo, cloth. 3s. 6d. net. This is probably the most comprehensive volume of Parodies ever issued. The author is as much at his ease in hitting off the style of Mr. Burns or Mr. Balfour, as he is in imitating the methods and effects of the new Celtic or Imperialist poets; whilst he is as happy in his series illustrating “The Sort of Prose Articles that modern Prose-writers write” as he is in his model newspaper with its various amusing features.