r. _Armand_ as
a study of a certain type of egoist is supreme; my difficulty was
that I had no desire to study him. Even _Maria-Therese Colbert_, the
decadent wife of his publisher, a very monster among women, is more
interesting. Miss PATTERSON is on the side of the angels, but she
makes her way to them through some nasty mire, calling spades spades
with a vigour which seems to have prevented her from paying much
attention to some beautiful and hopeful things which also have
everyday names.

* * * * *

_Germany's High Sea Fleet in the World War_ (CASSELL), which is
Admiral SCHEER'S addition to the entertaining series, "How we really
won after all," by German Military and Naval commanders, gives you, on
the whole, the impression of an honest sailor-man telling the truth as
he sees it and only occasionally remembering that he must work in one
of the set pieces of official propaganda. To a mere layman this record
is of immense and continual interest; to the professional, keen to
know what his opposite number was doing at a given time, it must be
positively enthralling, especially the chapter on the U-boats, with
its discreet excerpts from selected logs. Incidentally one
can't withhold tribute of reluctant admiration for the technical
achievements of the submarines and the courage, skill and tenacity of
their commanders and crews. Most readers will find themselves turning
first to the account of the Jutland battle. The tale is told not too
boastfully, though the Admiral claims too much. Perhaps that may be
forgiven him, as he certainly took his long odds gamely and fought his
fleet with conspicuous dexterity. Also the German naval architects and
ordnance folk proved to have a good thing or two up their sleeves,
and the gunnery, for a time at any rate, was unexpectedly excellent.
Naturally perhaps Admiral SCHEER may be claimed as supporting the
Beattyites rather than the Jellicoists. But he is biassed and goes
further than the most extreme of the former school. For his real
grievance against the British Navy, constantly finding vent, is that
it did not ride bravely in, with bands playing, to the perfectly good
battleground prepared with good old German thoroughness under the guns
of Heligoland.

* * * * *

No pioneer work was ever more persistently attacked by the weapons of
ridicule and contempt than that of the Salvation Army, and I suggest
that all who s