Viaduct View," after the name of the detestable and
dreary little house which a loving aunt has preserved for the
problematical return of the nephew who would certainly not endure it for
two days. This shows Mr. LYONS at his best--sympathetic, subtle and
gently ironical. I am not saying that every one of the thirty-seven
chapters is on the same high level. "Befriending Her Ladyship," for
instance, a story that tells how a cottage-dweller repaid in kind the
interfering house-inspection of the lady from the Hall, though amusingly
told, is neither original in idea nor quite fair in execution.
Throughout I found indeed that Mr. LYONS'S natural good-humour and
sympathy were severely tried when they came in contact with squires and
the ruling classes; and that now and then he was unable to resist the
temptation to burlesque. But for one thing at least he deserves
unstinted praise; I know of no other writer who can transfer, as he can,
the genuine flavour of dialect into print. Try reading some of the _Moby
Lane_ dialogue aloud and you will see what I mean.

* * * * *

If spacious hobbies make for happiness then is Sir MARTIN CONWAY the
happiest of men. He has been before us at various times of his crowded
life, now as an undaunted peak-compeller in Alps and Himalayas, or
skiing over Arctic glaciers, or pushing forward into hazardous depths of
Tierra del Fuego; now sitting authoritative in the SLADE Chair at
Cambridge, or contesting an election, or restoring an old castle, or
picking up priceless primitives for paltry pence in Paduan pawnshops;
and always as a resourceful author setting it all down (in a couple of
dozen books or so) with an easy-flowing pen incapable of boring. In _The
Crowd in Peace and War_ (LONGMANS) he makes his bow as the political
philosopher. It is a lively essay packed with observation, reflection,
modern instances; it intrigues us with audacious and disputable
generalisations, acute criticism, and a liberal temper. Solemnity and
dulness are banished from it, and it might well serve as a light pendant
to the admirable _Human Nature in Politics_ of Mr. GRAHAM WALLAS. Let no
student (and no mandarin either) neglect it. And we others, however
scornful we may profess to be, are all at heart desperately interested
in the confounded thing called politics, and can all appreciate this
shrewd analysis of the vices and virtues of the crowd "which lacks
reason but possesses faith,"