hing is off; he will not fly to-day;"
And forth we wandered, some in rare ill-humour,
But not, oh, not the bard. Yet this I say--
There are two kinds of courage: one's a boomer
Avid of gold and glory; this is A,
Crowned with a palm, and in her hands I see
Sheaves of press cuttings. There is also B.

Not venturesome, this last, to brave the billows,
To beard the panther in his hidden lair,
To probe the epiderms of armadillos,
Nor execute wild cart-wheels in the air;
But who shall say how much Britannia still owes
To B, the kind of courage that can bear
Dauntless to wait, whate'er the skies portend,
(Having paid entrance) to the bitter end?

The heavenly hero in his suit of leather
Soars through Olympus with the world beneath
Sometimes, and sometimes, owing to the weather,
Scratches his fixtures in the tempest's teeth.
Shall the high gods, who gaze on both together,
Count him the nobler, or confer their wreath
On the brave bull-dog bard, who risks his thews
Standing about all day in thin-soled shoes?

EVOE.

* * * * *

[Illustration: "HERE'S ONE I'M SURE YOU'LL LIKE, TREVOR."

"WHAT IS IT?"

"_ROBINSON CRUSOE_."

"IN WHAT LANGUAGE?"]

* * * * *

OUR BOOKING-OFFICE.

(_BY MR. PUNCH'S STAFF OF LEARNED CLERKS._)

Just as one may say of certain novelists that they write at the top
of their voices, so, I think, one might describe Miss VIOLA MEYNELL
as writing in a whisper. This certainly is the effect that _Modern
Lovers_ (SECKER) produced upon me. The gentle method of it invested
the story--which of itself is a very slight thing--with an odd
significance almost impossible to communicate in criticism; but the
reading of a few pages will show you what I mean. The title is apt
enough, for the tale is about nothing but love, as it affects a group
of five young people, three men and two girls. Of the girls, who are
sisters, _Effie Rutherglen_ is the more important and detailed figure.
_Effie_, in the time before the story opens, had an affair with
_Oliver Bligh_; then, summoned North to live with her futile and
uncomprehending parents, she fell (as did her sister _Milly_ and most
of the local spinsters) under the fascination of one _Clive Maxwell_,
who was an author and had appealing eyes and obviously a way with him.
Then _Oliver_ turned up again, and poor _Effie_