... The Hand in the Dark,' by Arthur J. Rees, John Lane, gs. net a detective story with some literary quality, and all the better for that also a detective story with romance in it, as should be, since it ...

... OUR CAPTIOUS CRITIC. THE SLUMP. ONCE came a horrid time of torrid drought. Disaster faced the theatres and halls. The heat came in. The public stayed without. The actors' voices echoed on the walls. The Hebrew prophet's warning none could doubt: And there shall be no herd within the stalls.' For no spectators could the drama draw Save dead-heads --whose cool cheek no sun could thaw. Now ...

... OUR CAPTIOUS CRITIC XIGHTIE NIGHT AT THE PRINCE OF WALES'S THEATRE. NIGHTIE NIGHT be ing a very short play, it was preceded by Miss Dorothy Varick when I visited the Queen's Theatre, though now. in its new home at the Prince of Wales's, the little play called Elegant Edward comes before it. Miss Varick seems at her best as a gamin, and has mo re variety o f feature than of pres- ence. She ...

... CHE HUMAN TOUCH in BOOKS J We used, when we spoke of authorship, to say Grub Street, which implied a very naked thoroughfare But now, as this article suggests, romance is in it at many a corner, and ...

... . I^jr Bv GEORGE PRIMROSE. ^:Itv ANDRÉ-LOUIS MOREAU had a great sense of the theatre. Also he had a most enviable knowledge of its literature, ancient and modern, as he boasted glibly to M. Binet, the strolling player. That being so, it is just a little surprising to find André-Louis at all deceived when he stumbled upon an open-air rehearsal of M. Binet's company. He fancied himself witness ...

... . BY W. DOUGLAS NEWTON. EITHER Mr. J. B. Morton was lucky in his weather or the weather was lucky in Mr. Morton. I am not certain which, and it does not matter. I do know that as I followed the Bard and Johnny O. and Twelvetrees, and Tom Three and Streen through laughing days of hill and track, and stories over wine. which make Enchanter's Nightshade, I found the sun light even more my ...

... A LITERARY LETTER Fiction in Fleet Street. London, Tune 13, 1921. Never was there such a place as Fleet Street for the manufacture of fiction. As litera ture and journalism are so near allied, I make no apology for occasional references to the latter here. There has been so much gossip in Fleet Street lately over the change in pro prietorship of newspapers. I do not believe a word of any of it ...

... A LITERARY LETTER The Napoleon Centenary. London, May 2, 1921. A hundred years have gone to-day (May 5) since Napoleon died at St. Helena. His name and fame have been kept alive more remarkably than those of any other man of action-- than any other man in any sphere of life. Even the terrible four years of war-- in which more lives have been lost than in all Napoleon's campaigns, than in the ...

... A LITERARY LETTER A Great Writer. London, November 7, 1921. Mr. George Harvey, the American Ambas sador, is an old friend of mine, and I was glad to have a note from him the other day in which he enclosed the following correspond ence in reference to the recent recognition of Frederic Harrison's ninetieth birthday: October IS, 1921. My very dear Frederic Harrison, I have the honour and the ...

... A LITERARY LETTER The Romance of Mary Davies. London, December 5, 1921. I confess it is with no small feeling of pride that I surveyed the various publishers' advertisements which were contained in the last issue of THE SPHERE, for the Advertising Manager flatters me with the suggestion that they are a tribute to the interest taken by pub lishers in this page. I could wish, however, that that ...

... MUSIC OF THE WEEK. (D By FRANCIS TO YE A FINE MUSICIAN PABLO CASALS It is difficult to write about Pablo Casals. When one has said, as one is bound to do, that he is not only the best player of the violoncello in the world, but the best player of any instrument whatsoever, there really remains nothing to add. To analyse his methods is impossible, because to analyse the musical sense is ...

... A LITERARY LETTER Three Interesting Plays. London, November 28, 1921. No fewer than three interesting plays have come to me this week. They are:-- The Cockpit. By Israel Zangwill. (Heinemann.) Oliver Cromwell. By John Drinkwater. (Sidg- wick and Jackson.) Will Shakespeare (an Invention). By Clemence Dane. (Heinemann.) T have known Mr. Zangwill for fully a quarter of a century, and have ...