Preface THIS is the third and last selection from the papers contributed weekly to the New Statesman from its foundation in April, 1913, until January, 1920. One or two odd articles, published over my other name, that seemed to be akin to them are to be found amongst them. I have not made elaborate alterations to give them a false air of having been written yesterday. One at least, the article on John Clare, might have been altered very considerably owing to the recent discovery of many new poems by him. S. E. Contents Dedications, n The Beauty of Football, 16 The Deeps of Time, 2 1 Swinburnes Defects, 26 Why Write a Bad Hand 32 If One Were Descended from Shakespeare, 38 Endymion, 45 Solid Ben Jonson, 53 The Deaths of the Philosophers, 59 Pacifism in Poetry, 64 The Treaty of Versailles, 70 Notes on Shakespeare, 73 Maeterlinck, 79 Literary Publicity in the Future, 88 Diminutive Dramas, 93 The Trials of Booksellers, 100 Ruskin Feb. 1919, 105 W. M. Rossetti, 109 Literary Hoaxes, in The Election of 1918, 117 Cecil Chesterton, 119 Three Relics, 122 John Clare, 129 Mrs. Grundy and Don Juan, 135 War Humour Peace Day, 1010, Wards English Poets, 144 Contents The Papers That There Are, 150 Stephen Reynolds, 154 The Romantic Generation, 155 Edward Thomas, 161 The Lost Classics 1916, 167 A Frenchman in England, 177 A Terrifying Collection, 183 Prohibition and the Poet, 188 Mr. Kiplings Later Verse, 194 A Better Play Than Usual, 199 The Tastes of the American Intelligentsia, 205 The Attacks on Mr. Bridges, 210 Rhymed Mnemonics, 216 Two Great Wars, 222 Sir Walter Raleigh, 228 The Decay of the Novel, 234 A Friend, 239 10 Dedications ONE of the most amusing and exciting of the minor works produced by the war was a book called Outwitting the Hun, by a young airman who escaped from Germany. There was one odd feature of this very odd book which escaped general notice, viz., the dedication. The author travelled entirely by night without a compass, steering entirely by the heavens. The result is the following dedication To THE NORTH STAR, whose guiding light marked the pathway to freedom for a weary fugitive, this book is inscribed in humble gratitude and abiding faith. It was a very amiable impulse that led him to this expression of his gratitude it is cer- tainly hard to imagine that he will be able to repay the Pole Star in any other way. It is probably the first time that a star has been thus addressed on a dedication-leaf in ordinary circumstances it would no more occur to an author to lay his offerings at the ii --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.