where the drama is an art, not a mere speculation. * * * * * Despite its name there is a simple directness about the theme of Mr. WARWICK DEEPING'S _Unrest_ (CASSELL) that I found refreshing. _Martin Frensham_ was a dramatist, and the fortunate possessor of an adoring wife, a charming home and a successful reputation. So quite naturally he grew bored with all three. Then there came on the scene one _Judith Ruddiger_, a widow, with red lips, who drove a great touring-car with abandon, played masculine golf and generally appealed in _Frensham_ to the elemental what-d'you-call-'ems. So these two decided to plunge into the freer life by the process of elopement. I was a little disappointed here. There had been so much chat about the Big Things that I had expected a rather more expansive setting to their adventure than Monte Carlo, followed by a round of first-class hotels. Moreover _Judith_, had a way of addressing her companion as "partner," which emphasised her wild Western personality to a degree that must have been almost painful at a winter-sports' resort full of schoolmasters. So I was hardly at all astonished when before long _Frensham_ grew more bored than ever. Meanwhile the adoring wife (whom the author has sketched very sympathetically and well) had refused to divorce him; and so in the long run--well, you can see from the start where the long-run is destined to end. But you will probably not like a pleasant tale the less for this. Mr. DEEPING certainly has courage. There is a scene or two in which he takes his amazonian _Judith_ to the very edge of bathos. "She could shoot straight with a pistol, and proved it by bringing a revolver to the summer-house, and making _Frensham_ hang his hat on the rail-fence that ran along the wood." Rough wooing for timid dramatists! I couldn't resist picturing how the late Mr. PELISSIER would have handled this situation. * * * * * [Illustration: _Contributor to "Poet's Corner" in country paper_. "I'm afraid I'll have to charge something for my poems now that paper has gone up."] * * * * *