La Russie Nouvelle, by Edouard Herriot. Paris: J. Ferenczi et Fils, 1923.

[L'Europe Nouvelle]

IN his dedication to the editor-in-chief of Le Petit Parisien, which printed his brilliant articles, M. Herriot, the Communist Deputy and Mayor of Lyon, who recently visited Moscow, writes: 'I have jotted down my notes indifferent whether they please or displease.' To-day he knows what it costs to tell frankly what you have seen and to write what you think. An avalanche of criticism has descended upon him. In Russian émigré circles fault is found with him because of his robust optimism as to the possibility of the recovery of Russia through the Soviet Government. He is also accused of some opinions too hastily formed, for his rather careless documentation, for his credulity with regard to certain statements by the People's Commissars. Among French political circles, all those who make antiBolshevism their electoral platform cannot forgive him for having destroyed legends which would have been useful in future electoral campaigns, and M. Herriot appears to them not as a private investigator but as an official ambassador of the French Radical Social Party to the Soviets.

It would be obviously childish to assert that M. Herriot's work deserves no criticism. The chief administrator of the City of Lyon is a man of too realistic mind, who has gone too deeply into the complexities of social organization, to believe himself, or to make anyone else believe, that a voyage of a few weeks was enough for him to see everything, and that the immense expanse of Russia in the midst of its fermentation can be 'comprehended' in less than three hundred pages without difficulties. But, after all, what was the purpose of the investigator? To do a historian's work? Not at all. His purpose was more modest and more practical. It was to awaken a public opinion which was too much inclined to set up a cross over, and to wait for the fall of, the Soviets. It was to counsel the French Government to practise a policy of expediency.

Like the earlier inquiry of Mlle. Louise Weiss, this book by the author of Agir is valuable. It has not yet achieved its object. France does not yet have in Moscow the economic delegation that she ought to have to avoid being outdistanced by other countries. But little by little the problem of Franco-Russian relations emerges from the realm of diplomatic fiction into everyday reality. It is escaping from the learned complications of international law and becoming 'businesslike,' as the English say. M. Herriot ought to be proud of his first success. He has contrived to have a

Soviet pavilion introduced at the fair at Lyon, and yet France has not been inundated by a wave of Bolshevism.

A Handbook of Cookery, by Jessie Conrad. Preface by Joseph Conrad. London: Heinemann, 1923. Garden City, N. Y.: Doubleday, Page & Co., 1923. $1.75.

[Westminster Gazette]

A BOOK which is concerned with the production of tempting breakfast-dishes, the making of stuffings, the frying of fish, and the serving of spinach as it is served only in France, does not call for review unless it be by a culinary expert. One who is nothing of the sort can only say of Mrs. Conrad's book that it makes the mouth water, which seems to suggest that it is very good of its kind.

It has, however, a special claim to distinction such as the work of Mrs. Beeton, and even that of Dr. Kitchener, lacked -a preface by a writer who has the recipe, not, perhaps, for making a perfect mayonnaise, but for giving a peculiar charm to everything to which he turns his attention. In this case, Mr. Joseph Conrad has given us his views upon cookery in general by way of calling our attention to the more technical matter which the volume contains.

He maintains, in a wonderful spirit of abnegation, that the only books which, from a moral point of view, are above suspicion, are cookery books the only books which can have no possible purpose but to increase the happiness of mankind. In the same breath, however, he confesses, as every honest man must confess, that he finds it impossible to read through a cookery book. In the case of this one, he offers himself, 'modestly but gratefully, as a Living Example' of the author's practice, and boldly declares that practice most successful — which, his modesty forbids him to add, gives her a claim on the gratitude of all of us.

The Far Eastern Republic of Siberia, by Henry Kittredge Norton. London: George Allen and Unwin, 1923. 12s. 6d. net.

[Manchester Guardian]

The Far Eastern Republic of Siberia gives, in far more detail than has yet been recorded, the history of the rise and development of the Siberian Republic east of Lake Baikal. In spite of an obvious prejudice against the Japanese, whose actions in Siberia it is premature to criticize without access to documents, and in spite of an almost painful attempt to be impartial, the author gives a very full and interesting account of

the main problems of this new State a State that has steered a careful course between Bolshevism and reaction, and shows markedly the sound sense of the Russian peasants who have created it and who, in the main, are directing its destinies toward peace and recuperation.

Poems by Four Authors, by J. R. Ackerley, A. Y. Campbell, Edward L. Davison, Frank N. Kendon. Cambridge: Bowes and Bowes, 1923. 68.

[Spectator Literary Supplement]

It was inevitable that, in choosing to send out their work in a collective volume, these four poets should challenge comparison; and although, in a note, they overtly deny any common interest,' two at least share something in common. For Messrs. Campbell and Davison poetry seems to imply the determined excision of anything resembling a plainly stated emotion. Mr. Campbell has considerable metrical felicity and, when engaged upon a simple theme, he can be delicate in his verse. In Early August' is an example of such successful simplicity.

Mr. Davison knows the immaculate word and loves the convolutions of intricate thought. One poem he calls 'A Prospect of Retrospect,' and another ends:

'I scarce remember or believe

I ever thought that it could last,
And grieve because I cannot grieve.'

But such intertwist and jugglery, however interesting, are scarcely the stuff of lyric poetry. Mr. Davison has a fresh, delightful feeling for lyric form; but he seems obstinately to shun the lyric content.

In some ways Mr. Ackerley is just as clever; but 'Ghosts' proves that he is sure enough of himself not to be afraid of the direct statement of an emotion. Indeed, 'Ghosts' is the most completely successful poem in the book: its metre is interesting, its sentiment delicately handled, and its unity neatly contrived. Quotation is impossible from the poem. Mr. Ackerley has a distinct dramatic sense and consequently in the sonnet form he is not too happy.

Many of the poems by which Mr. Kendon is here represented reveal him as the most sensitive poet of the four, the most human and the most cognizant of what is the true stuff of poetry. If 'Passover' is bound to be the favorite with many, 'Ophelia' is the finer, stronger poem:

'Cover her in: her love and her grief strove together,

Now, reconciled, they sleep, bedfellows complacent:

Cover her in: her sighing ceased with her singing, And Death on a cool stream his garlanding gave."

Mr. Kendon is experimental. 'I Spend My Days Vainly' is, however, more than an interesting example of assonantal rhyming; it is a good lyric:

'O tarry for me, sweet;

I shall stir, I shall wake!
And the melody you seek

Shall be lovely, though late.'

And of the four poets he is the ablest sonneteer. He can curb the emotional content with a strong hand and drive the difficult measure easily to its close. The twelve sonnets given are from 's sequence unpublished.' If they are fairly representative, one hopes soon to have the pleasure of seeing the whole sequence.

[A poem from this book appears on A Page of Verse.]

BOOKS ANNOUNCED

Highways and Byways Series. London and New York: Macmillan Company, 1923. A pocket edition of this famous series of travel books which has served many a pedestrian and cyclist in the English counties. The new edition will include six of the most popular volumes: Surrey, Kent, Sussex, Oxford and the Cotswolds, Dorset, and Devon and Cornwall.

KIPLING, RUDYARD. Irish Guards in the Great War. New York and London: Macmillan Company, 1923. Just issued and not yet reviewed. Mr. Kipling is said to have put his utmost energy and enthusiasm into his work on this famous regiment. He has been studying the history of the Guards and writing the book for many months.

LANG, ANDREW. Collected Poems. London: Longmans, 1923.

MEATH, LORD. Memories of the Nineteenth Century. London: John Murray. For early publication. In this book Lord Meath discusses his travels in Europe, Palestine, and the United States, and describes his diplomatic activities in Italy, Germany, and the British Foreign Office.

THE DILEMMA OF SPAIN

It is a singular fact that, while Spain has always been looked upon as, and in many ways actually is, a country rooted in traditions of history, form, and custom, nevertheless in the questions which mostly agitate her to-day she possesses no guiding traditions. It is therefore difficult to point out the real significance of some event in Spanish politics, which in most other countries would be obvious, and still harder to prophesy its results.

A Spanish Cabinet must always be on the alert to meet an attack from any quarter, either economic, political, or social-religious. Hitherto Spanish Governments have been able to cope with revolutionary movements by means of energetic coercive measures, such as have repeatedly been taken in Catalonia; but when protests from the Conservative side of politics take a dangerously obstructive or an outright revolutionary form, their task is far more arduous. A Liberal Government especially, such as that of the Marquis de Alhucemas, finds itself between the devil of syndicalism and the several deep seas of reaction, separatism, and so forth; and it does not help matters that the Liberal Party itself is split up into half-a-dozen groups, each with

different ideas and aims, while the other parties suffer from the same disunion. One radical failing in Spain, which it shares with Portugal, is that it is ruled by professional politicians, though they form an exceedingly small percentage of the population. For most Spaniards living outside of Madrid, Barcelona, and Bilbao, there is no such thing as politics; there is just the economic problem of making both ends meet and laying a trifle by for a rainy day.

It is significant that many observers mention the possibility that the next manifestation of popular agitation will take some form of Fascism. Meanwhile no Government seems to have the courage to bring the war in Morocco to a close. A writer in the Nation of April 21 becomes sarcastic on the subject of the Spanish army. He says:

'It is Madrid, and the politics and politicians of Madrid, who impose upon the villages of Andalusia and of the real Spain conscription and a large army. At first sight the existence of this large army "is strange, because, you know," there is no one apparently for it to fight. Of all countries in Europe, Spain is the least open to attack by its neighbors, and has the smallest motives for attacking its neighbors. France has found for a cen