my own case, who read every
page of it with delight. It is a reasonable contention that a writer
possessing the enthusiasm, the humour and the persuasive gifts of Mr.
IONIDES, with a twelve-and-sixpenny book for their display, could
present a case that would give some theoretic and superficial charm to
the most uncomfortable conditions of existence. Not that _A Floating
Home_ is a work only of theory; on the contrary, nothing could be more
practical than its account of the purchase, conversion and enjoyment of
the _Ark Royal_. The most prejudiced--again I speak personally--will
find pleasure in the author's zestful story of how the dingy,
foul-smelling _Will Arding_, full of cement (and worse things), was
transformed into the spick-and-span _Ark Royal_, with a piano in the
saloon and Queen Anne silver on the breakfast-table; while for the
persuadable there are added plans, scales of expense and the like,
which bring the whole matter to a working basis. The book, in short, is
propaganda at its best (was it perhaps this that attracted Mr. BENNETT?)
and as such well entitled to its toll of converts.

* * * * *

_Warriors and Statesmen_ (MURRAY) is a book selected from the
"gleanings" of the late Lord BRASSEY. Such gleanings depend so largely
on the personality of the gleaner that they may be worth anything or
nothing; so let me say at once that Lord BRASSEY had too sound a taste
to be a collector of ill-considered trifles. Although warriors have the
place of honour in the title they are given but little space in the
book. Still, in these days the soldier can well afford to let the
statesman have the advantage in a collection that does not deal with the
living. This limitation may explain the absence of all mention of Lord
ROBERTS, who was probably still alive when the gleanings were completed.
Apart from the evidence it gives of a fine mind the book preserves much
that is worth remembering and presents it in a convenient form. For this
we have in part to thank Mr. HORACE HUTCHINSON, to whom Lord BRASSEY
entrusted the work of selecting these literary sheaves.

* * * * *

_From the Home Front_ (CONSTABLE) is a further, and rather belated,
selection from the War verses that have appeared from week to week on
the second page of _Punch_. Conscious of cherishing a natural prejudice
in favour of his own productions, Mr. Punch forbears to commend this
little volume,