LIBER'S NOTE BOOK.

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2812, 1 July 1916, Page 6

LIBER'S NOTE BOOK.

The Church in the Fighting Line,

The splendid heroism displayed-by. the British chaplains at tha front has frequently been the subject of enthusiastic .praise, hot only by the correspondents, but -in the .letters soldiers have sent to their relatives and friends. How im-' portant, and often how dangerous, is the work done by the gallant men who accompany the troops, ministering to their spiritual wants; participating in tho actual perils of the campaign, is set forth- very ably and very modestly in a little volume, "The Church- in the Fighting Line: With Smith-Dorrien at the Front, being the experiences of a Chaplain in charge of an Infantry Brigade" ((Hodder and Stoughtorf; per S. and W. . Mackay). The author, tho Kev. Douglas P. Winnifrith, M,A., not only gives some of his own personal experiences in Prance and Belgium, but devotes considerable attention to'tho arduous and fearless work of. the Medical Services in the war. Not a chapter in Mr." Winnifrith's narrative but contains some evidence of British, pluck and endurance, and of the unfailing cheerfulness of the "Tommies" under conditions which might well' induce gloom and almost despair. The Bishop of London .contributes a brjef "Foreword," and General Smith-Dorrien testifies to the splendid work of the chaplains. Says tho 'General:, "They were always near at hand, and showed such devoted indifference to. danger and hardship "in their ministrations to. tho sick and wounded as to place them on the highest level of those heroes who are fighting that our Empire may prevent all that counts for truth, righteousness, and honour from being ground in : -'the •lust." The illustrations, from photographs, are numerous and exceptioinally interesting. . (New Zealand price, 89.-6(1.) A Book for Shakespeare Lovers. - . There is probably no living English writer, not even Sir Sidney Lee himself, nor Mr. Israel Gollancz, who hoB devoted more , time to the .study .of i Shakespearean, problems than ..has Mrs.' C. C. Stopes. To'the'already' long list of worlds, all on Shakespearean questions, which stand to Mrs. Stope's's credit, must. now., be added a volume entitled "Shakespeare's Industry" (George Bell and Sons; xper S. and W. Mackay). The book contains twenty-two separate articles or essays on. Shakespeare, his life, his work, his associates, the sources, and stage presentation, in his own day, and ours, of the plays, and so forth, and in each and all (hero is evidence of deep etudv and careful original research, the results of which are conveyed in the same readable and pleasant manner that has characterised the author's previous excursions into Siiakesgeareana. Whether Mrs. Stopes he discussing "Shakespeare's Treatment of his Originals," "Tho Amleth of the Story and the Hamlet of'tlio. Stage," or describing "Tho ICenilworth Festivities" or "Tho Introduction of Shakespeare to Queen Elizabeth"; whether she' reviews tho official records of Shakespeare's life, or gossips aljout his legal transactions— upon all these, and on many other subjects she always manages to throw some new light. The essiiy entitled "Shakespeare and War" 1 is, of course, possessed of special and peculiar interest at the present time. The ■ poet, says Mrs. Stopes, , looked, upon war as the breath of tho Gods, moving, raising, revitalising, on the one 'hand', paralysing, crushing, destroying, on the other. When tho war spirit breathed over, a land where danger demanded defence. wo knew that it mado brave souls braver, and small souls greater, if they were but true. The very man whom tho Areh-Itogue called but "food for powder" developed «. spirit which rose high abovo his own. •Later on, it is not surprising to find Mrs. Stopes quoting the splendid lines, in "King Richard II," (11. 2) which begin: This royal throne of Kings, this sceptred . isle, . ■ . .'. and concluding her article by reproducing the noble words, 'Tiorn. of Armada fervours," of Falconbridge, "the soldier by nature": This England never did. nor never shall, Lie at the proud foot of a. conqueror, . But when it first did help to wound itself. Now these our princes aro come home again; Come tho three corners of tho world in arms, . ■ • . And we shall shock them, naught slnffl make us rui», If England to itself do lost but true. No library which possesses a shelf devoted to ShakeSpearcana can afford to ,bo without Mrs. Stopes's latest book, a companion volume to the same author's equally fascinating "Shakespeare's Environment," published three or four year 3 back. (New Zealand price" 10s.).