atrical career--well, you know how
these things are managed in fiction; for my part I was left wondering
whether Mr. HOWEL EVANS' pictures of Wales were as romantically
conceived as his conception of a West-End theatre. Though of course
we all know that Welsh people do sometimes make even more sensational
triumphs in the Metropolis; just possible indeed that this fact may
have some bearing on the recent flood of Cambrian fiction. Certainly,
if _A Little Welsh Girl_ achieves success on the strength of Mr. LLOYD
GEORGE's triumph, she may thank her luck, for I have my doubts whether
she could manage it unassisted.

* * * * *

Of _Ladies Must Live_ (HODDER AND STOUGHTON) one may say, in the first
place, that it is fortunately unnecessary as well as unusual for
the bulk of them to live in the scalp and tomahawk atmosphere that
distinguishes the sexual and social rivalry of _Christine Fennimer_
and _Nancy Almar_, the two beautiful American Society dames whose duel
for the affections of the eligible hero form the plot, the whole plot
and nothing but the plot of Miss ALICE DUER MILLER's latest book.
Nature red in tooth and claw has not mothered them--they are too
well-bred for that; they simply bite with their tongues. _Mrs. Almar_,
who is married and purely piratical, comes off worst in the encounter,
and the more artful _Christine_, ultimately falling in love with the
object of her artifices, becomes human enough to marry him, despite
his lapse from financial eligibility. The plot is a thin one, but
smoothly and brightly unfolded. Unhappily Miss MILLER lacks the
gift of delicate satire and the sense of humour that the society
novel above all others seems to require. With a lighter and less
matter-of-fact treatment one would accept more easily the overdrawing
of her rather impossible felines.

* * * * *

[Illustration: _Man in the Air_. "ANOTHER OF THESE BEASTLY PIVOTAL
MEN!"]

* * * * *

"Sir Charles Sykes, Director of Wood Production, has conferred
with representatives of each section of the tailoring trade,
with a view to simplifying the regulations and making possible
a larger output of Standard suits."--_Daily Paper_.

We look forward to the part that this new clothing will play in the
general scheme of afforestation.

* * * * *

"A lady visiting the town complained th