which is
perhaps to be found in the whole world.

And yet he endows this paralyzing bourgeoisie with astonishing life.
One turns back from much more exciting literature to these ignorant,
conceited, restricted and undistinguished people.

One turns back to them because Mr. Bennett shows one the tragic
humanity, eternally and mysteriously fascinating, to be found beneath
these vulgar and unlovely exteriors. Nor when it comes to the problem
of sex itself is this writer less of a master. Never has the undying
conflict, the world-old struggle, between those who, in the Catullian
phrase, "love and hate" at the same time, been more convincingly
brought into the light than in the relations between these
uninteresting but strangely appealing people.

Arnold Bennett's knowledge of the Five Towns gives to his work a
background of significant congruity whose interaction upon the
characters of his plots has the same kind of weight and portentousness
as the interaction of Nature in the books of Mr. Hardy.

Such a background may be in itself materialistic and sordid, but in
the imaginative reaction it produces upon the characters it has the
genuine poetic quality.

100. OXFORD BOOK OF ENGLISH VERSE.

This is by far the best anthology of English poetry, its only rival
being the first series of Palgrave's Golden Treasury. Those interested
in the work of more recent poets and in the latest poetic "movements"
in England and America would be wise to turn to Putnam's "Georgian
Poetry"--two series--and "The New Poetry" by Harriet Monroe, published
by Macmillan. The compiler of this selection of books feels himself
that the most poetical among the younger poets of our age is Walter de
la Mare and of the poems which Mr. de la Mare has so far written, he
finds the best to be those extraordinary and magical verses entitled
"The Listeners" which seem to come nearer to giving a voice to the
unutterable margin of our days than any others written within the last
ten years.

The following pages contain an alphabetical list by author of the One
Hundred Best Books, also the titles of other books recommended in the
text by Mr. Powys. The numerals following the titles of the books
refer to the number given the books in this list, while the prices
attached thereto are the Publisher's list prices. If sent by mail or
express it is necessary to add the cost, which is usually about 10 per
cent, of the price.

G. ARNOLD SHAW, PUBLISHER
GRAND