"A tough hide and some facility of expression"--to quote the author's modest estimate of his qualifications--have enabled Rear-Admiral Sir DOUGLAS BROWNRIGG to make his _Indiscretions of the Naval Censor_ (CASSELL) the liveliest book of the War that has come my way. Thanks to the first element in his make-up he managed to retain his difficult and delicate post throughout the War, and only once came into serious collision with any of his official superiors. As these included First Lords of such diverse temperament as Mr. CHURCHILL and Lord FISHER, and First Sea Lords with such diametrically opposite views regarding publicity as Lord FISHER and Sir HENRY JACKSON, this was no small achievement. Thanks to the second element he has written a book which scarcely contains a dull page. Whether he is giving us a pen-picture of Mr. CHURCHILL conducting Admiralty business from a sick-bed, with his head swathed in flannel and an immense cigar protruding from the bandage; or explaining how the legend of Lord KITCHENER'S survival arose from a trivial error that caused the news of the _Hampshire_ disaster to reach Berlin a few minutes before it was published in London, he always writes with directness and _verve_. Admiral BROWNRIGG tells a good deal about the censorship, and illustrates his theme with some excellent reproductions of naval photographs before and after the Censor had "re-touched" them. He tells us even more about his work in a less familiar _role_, that of Publicity Agent to the Silent Service. It was he who arranged visits to the Fleet by more or less distinguished personages-- "BROWNRIGG'S circus parties," as they were dubbed in the gun-room--and who engaged authors like Mr. KIPLING and artists like Sir JOHN LAVERY to describe and portray the doings of the Fleet and its auxiliaries. It pains me to learn, however, that "Passed by Censor" was only a guarantee for the harmlessness and not for the veracity of the stories narrated; and in particular that the famous "Q"-boat ruse of the demented female with the explosive baby was a pure work of imagination. * * * * *