While the author will not concede that mere literary form is the all in all that our modern masters claim, yet he would not be found in the ranks of M. de Bonniers, who declares that an author need not trouble himself about his grammar; let him have original ideas and a certain style, and the rest is of no consequence. The author of “Phases of Thought,” believes first in the possession of ideas, for without them an author is a sorry spectacle. He also believes that an attractive style will materially aid in the diffusion of these ideas. Many good books fall still-born from the press, for no other reasons than their slovenly style. Readers now-a-days will not plod along poor roads, when a turnpike leads to the same destination. The grammar marks the parting of ways. Brother Azarias rightfully holds that good grammar is an essential part of every great writer’s style. Classics are so, by correct grammar as well as by original ideas. This easy dictum of the slipshod writers—that if an idea takes you off your feet you must not trouble yourself about the grammar that wraps it, is but a specious pleading for their ignorance of what they pretend to despise. The great difference between this book and the many on similar subjects is in the manner of treatment. It starts from a solid basis; that basis the creed of the Catholic Church. The superstructure of lofty thought reared on this basis is in a style at once pellucid and crisp. The author is not only a thinker rare and original; he is a scholar broad and masterly.