uce it to terms of exact realism, showing the
latest devices of destruction at work, but carefully excluding those
improbable and impossible agencies which the more exuberant but less
informed novelist loves to imagine and put in play. Mr. PALMER'S
conception, though based upon some experience, is for the most
part speculative, of course, but I am confident that he gives us an
excellent idea of how the military machine would work in practice, how
its human constituent parts would feel inwardly, and what physical and
moral effects a battle would have upon those civilians who inhabited
and owned the battlefield. Whether or no the future will prove the
truth of the author's somewhat Utopian conclusions, he certainly
founds them upon a most exciting and convincing story, in which the
"love interest" is as powerful as could be desired.

* * * * *

Would you like to pay a round of visits to some delightful Shropshire
houses, as the friend and guest of a charming woman, who knows all
about what is most interesting in all of them, and has a pleasantly
chatty manner of telling it? Of course you would; so would anyone.
That is why I predict another success for Lady CATHERINE MILNES
GASKELL'S latest house-book, _Friends Round the Wrekin_ (SMITH,
ELDER). Perhaps you have pleasant memories of her former volumes in
the same kind; if so, I need say no more by way of introduction; but,
if not, I must tell you that her new book is very fairly described,
in the words of the publisher, as "a further collection of history and
legend, garden lore and character study." What the publishers modestly
refrain from mentioning is the real charm with which it has been
written, a quality that makes all the difference. There are also
photographs of a number of wholly fascinating houses (the kind that
make me wistful when I see them in the auctioneers' windows), and the
author has some personal anecdote or quaint scrap of legend to tell
you about each. I am quite willing to admit that the rambling book
has increased lately to an extent imperfectly justified by its average
quality. Too many of them confuse rambling with drivelling. But for
the reflections of a cultivated woman, one who has steeped herself in
the lore of a country she evidently loves, and can transcribe it with
such tender and persuasive charm, there should always be room. I may
add--and your own tastes must decide whether this is a flaw or a fresh
merit