Welsh Journals

portion to the assimilation of this spirit by the world will the coming of the Kingdom be. It is to be deplored that Mr. Rogers did not supple- ment his treatment with sets of questions similar to those given by Professor A. C. Hogg in his book on the same subject. This would have made this little work an admirable text-book for a Bible or a Sunday-school Class. A few questions which would be unanswerable on any other idea of the Kingdom than the one given here would have done more in this land of theological haggling to induce patient study of the problem than the most elaborate treat- ment. If a second edition is called for we hope the author will remedy this slight want. Meanwhile he is to be congratulated on his lucid, careful and interesting work. Ll. G. W. Emile Verhaeren The Cloister." Trans- lated by Osram Edwards. Constable & Co. 2s. net. The Cloister, the most successful of M. Verhaeren's four lyrical dramas, is the poignant tragedy of a monk's soul, depicting the inner struggle of a proud and passionate personality battling on the side of conscience against an ardent love of life and the implacable restrictions of monastic tradition. The climax is reached when Dom Balthazar, a parricide living under the wing of monastic protection, seeks supreme absolution by proclaiming his crime before the congregation and calling for secular justice upon himself. The play is thus a criticism of the ecclesiastical ideal of separate and exclusive jurisdiction. We seem to witness not merely the ordeal of a monk, but also the trial of a monastery before the tribunal of modem thought. Such reflections, the translator points out, are more likely to occur to a reader than to a spectator; and his translation, made in close collaboration with the author some fourteen years ago," is now re-pubhshed in an attractive and readable form. In addition to its appeal as literature, we feel that the vigorous and subtle rendering before us has lost as little as possible of the high dramatic qualities of Verhaeren's s masterpiece. P. M. J. Emile Cammaertl: Belgian Poems." English translations by Tita Brand-Cammaerts. Pp. 183. John Lane. 4s. 6d. net. If this volume is typical of M. Emile Cammaerts work, then evidently the War has brought him a wealth and vigour of inspiration he hitherto lacked. The mystic poems at the end of the book are earliest in date and rather flimsy in theme. They point, however, to a strong Catholic faith, not com- mon among contemporary Belgian poets, which pre- dominates in the Carols," and has since withstood the harsh experiences of war and exile. A third section, full of devout and tender passion, is devoted to his fiancee whom he afterwards celebrates as his bride, and to his first-born. These poems, written before the outbreak of war, though occasionally weakened by excessive naivete, reveal a gift for clear, direct expression, and a warmth of feeling which stand the poet in good stead when he comes to write war-songs that appeal at once to a literary and to a popular taste. The poet's whole soul is in these Patriotic Chants." Amid calls to arms, cries for vengeance and echoes of agony and mourning, his faith in God and his country is more and more outspoken. Now. however, the believer invokes the wrath of a divine Avenger upon the devastators of his country whose flowering plains he pictures all the fairer in coming springs for their baptism of blood. Many of these poems have a particular interest. The first gives the reason for the volume s publication to provide tobacco for Belgian soldiers. The thrilling national appeal-Chantons. Behw. Chantons !-has been set to music by Sir Edward Elgar. Excellent versions of other striking pieces made by Miss A. Bryer, Lord Curzon, Mr. A. P. Greaves and Mr. E. H. Bush are here reprinted alongside the originals. The rest are translated by Mme. Cammaerts, who has aimed less at making artistic renderings than at helping those who have, difficulty in following the French. The volume tastefully bound and printed, should attract all interested in the great new literature of our valiant ally. P. M. J. "The Green Roads of England." By R. Hipperley Cox. London Methuen & Co. Pp. 217. 1 Os. 6d. net. We took up the book with great expectations, and laid it down with deep disappointment. The literature of the subject is not large, and there was and is an opportunity for an adequate work on the subject generally. The existing books mostly treat of particular roadways. The outstanding merits of the work are the excel- lence of the plans of the various earthwork— clueHy reproduced from the ordnance survey-and of the maps of the different tracts of country showing the relation of the trackways to the earthworks, and of both to the physical features. These are of really excellent quality, and all students of the geographical side of archaeology should be deeply grateful to Mr. Cox for providing them. Again there is no doubt that the book is the result of nrst-nand