... . THE ART OF ORATORY. If there are any oratorg left in these days, either in Parliament, or at the Bar, or upon tihe Stage, such of them as may welcome the counsel of perfection might tako as their guide John N. Ruffin, B.A., who has grouped together, rhetorically analysed and cally marked, under the head ing of The Celebrated Crown Trial, the orations usually re ferred to as De Corona, ...

... . MY GARDEN. An interesting booklet, partly in verse, partly in pithy prose, has been issued, at Is. bo., by Ethel Montague, who is proud to trace her desecnt from the cele brated Bumey family. Her great-great-grandfather was Dr. Charles liurney, who wrote tho first. History of Musio published, and whose bi centenary has recently been commemorated. Dr. Burnev was father of Fanny Bumey, known ...

... . WHO'S WHO 1930. After a most regrettable and unavoidable delay has now been issued, at 30s. net, by the firm of Sir Isaac Pitman and Sons, Ltd., the sixth edition of John Parker's chef d', Who in the Theatre, long known to be a work rendered, by its accuracy, fulness? and closely checked detail, really indispensable to those who have to concern themselves with the crowded annals of ...

... . THE BRISTOL STAGE. Two small and also deeply interesting volumes on different aspects of the Bristol Stage have come to hand. One of them, issued at 2s. 6d. net by the Fountain Press, at 10, Clifford's Inn, sets, out to tell the story of the stage of that western city from 1490 to 1925. and is styled more a love-letter than n history by it3 authoress or compiler, Miss M. E. Board, whose ...

... . NERINA. A Lyrical Drama in lhree Acts. By Phbct Pinkerton. Set to \Tncir> lio ('mm ks Ha t Gil AN. Given sufficiently elaborate operatic production, this lyrical drama, with scene laid in Medicean Florence (August, 1423), might prove a suitable addition to the repertory of the B.N.O.C or of the Carl Rosa company. Nerina, which has been written in three acts, has a short cast of six ...

... . Mr. Bernard Shaw's Suprem* Exploit. Early in the spring Messrs. Con stable will publish a new work by Mr. Bernard Shaw, which is de soribed as the author's scientific, religious, and political testament, as well as his supreme exploit in dramatic literature. In form it is a play in five acts; but every uvi> u ...

... . DRAMA IN GLOUCESTERSHIRE. This, with the sub-title of the Jotswold County, is the style given to a very creditable and aborious piece of book-making or compilation, done by a man of Houcestershire (though born in London), Theodore ;iarK vynose orotner, oeorge Frederic, was for years with the ienson company. Mr. T. Hannam- }lark, who has fulfilled many offices of importance in the city ...

... . THE MUSICAL DIRECTORY (Rudall, Carte and Oo. 6s.). This, the seventy-eighth annual issue, is a closely packed mine of information concerning and of use to all connected with tho musical profession. The two years' obituary notices show tho heavy toll that has been taken during tho period. I here is a comprehensive directory of musical institutions, colleges, schools, societies running from ...

... . THE MARCHESI METHOD. Mme. Blanche Marchesi has dedicated to the memory of my beloved parents, Salvatore and Matilde Marchesi, her serious treatise, styled The Singer's Catechism and Creed, and published at 8s. 6d. not by the firm of J. M. Dent. On its front page she has placed conspicuously trie sentence Here I lay down the truth about two hundred and twenty years of teaching by one ...

... . Rathmell the Wanderer. This title, following the example of old Father Wotan in The Ring, might be applied to himself by Mr. Rathmell Wilson, who has now followed up his books, styled The Wandering Gentile, and Still Wandering, with yet a third in the series, which he oalls 44 The Wandering Gentile's Log Book (1929-31). It is pub lished at 5s. net by John Davis. Mr. Wilson's new ...

... . The Theatre of Youth. This is the title of a useful little volume (Chapman and Hall, 58, net), described as a brief Introduction to the art of the stage for those who are not too old to learn, by the author, Charles Thomas, who, as a small boy; figured in the cast of Peter Pan at the 1/uke ot York s years ago, and was latterly concerned with the Play and Pageant Union, of Hampstcad. A ...

... . VAGARIES OF A VAGABOND. There is so much varied matter in this volume of mainly autobiographical reminiscences from the pen of one who deliberately ascribes to himself tho once derogatory term of Vagabond (as ap plied to performers) that one can but select some of the most teresting phase* in the career of the long-celebrated Fighting Par son. for some time now settled down in Jersey, and ...