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The Garden City," by C. B. Purdom. J. M. Dent & Sons. 10s. 6d. net. It is said on the cover of this book that it is the first authorita- tive and complete account of the Garden City that has ever been written." It cannot, however, be seriously contended that it fulfils any special purpose other than that of a kind of glorified guide book. The information supplied is in some cases very detailed and there are many excellent illustrations Mr. Frieden- sen's coloured illustrations are not too successful, either in tone or choice of subject. We are in hearty agreement with Mr. Purdom when he says that the Garden City at Letchworth is a remarkable experiment from whatever point of view it is judged. It is the one conspicuous instance in England of a new town premeditated and planned from the outset, the development of which has been carefully controlled at every stage of its growth. Letchworth has indeed made a notable contribution to the housing problem, and particularly to the housing of the poorly-paid artisan class. This is more than can be said of many other similar schemes. The sociological side of its activities has also been of absorbing interest. Many bold experiments have been success- fully tried there, such as co-operative housekeeping. open-air schools and the establishment of small holdings. One of the most hopeful signs of the times is the fact that Letchworth by its very existence, has demonstrated the possibility of transferring industries from London and other overcrowded centres to a new community. The results of this migration and of the establish- ment of new industries have been very beneficial to employer and employed alike. One would have liked to see a more closely reasoned account of such questions as this in Mr. Purdom book. There is a great deal of useful information on the all-absorbing question of cheap cottage building. Most of the cottages were built a few years ago, and before the recent considerable rise in the cost of building. But even allowing for that, the results obtained at Letchworth have been remarkable. Cottages con- taining living room, scullery, and three bedrooms have been built to let, including rates, at 4s. 3d. to 5s 9d. per week. This has not been done on philanthropic lines, but by housing companies paying a 4 and 5 per cent. dividend. An integral part of Mr. Ebenezer Howard original proposals for a Garden City was the permanent preservation of a belt o agricultural land round the city. This has been adhered to at Letchworth and there is an interesting appendix in the book referring to agriculture and small holdings. The rents vary from 25s. to 70s. per acre. Architecturally Letchworth has been disappointing. A rigid standpoint in taste and design has had to give way to compromise. in order to let building plots. The results of this policy are evident on all sides. Strict canons of taste were not adhered to by the promoters, as the Garden City was considered by them to be more of a social than an architectural experiment. Against this theory, we have no hesitation in saying that a scheme, however praiseworthy its objects and however encouraging its results, cannot be a permanent solution of existing problems if its external appearance is make-shift and haphazard. We can commend this book as a very readable. though not a very analytical contribution to the study of town planning in practice. "The Russian Novel"-Le Vicomte E. M. de Vogue- Translated by Colonel H. A Sawyer. Chapman & Hall. 7s. 6d. net. Pp. 335. The three great Russian novelists. Turgeneff, Dostoyevsky and Tolstoy are, by this time, almost as well known in England as they are in France and Germany. Consequently this book is sure of a wide appeal, though of a somewhat different kind from the one the Author originally intended. It was first published in France in 1886, when. except for Turgeneff. Russian literature was little known and it was therefore to a large extent a missionary enterprise. Now we can come to it with some knowledge of the men whom he is expounding. It is not a history of Russian literature, nor even, exactly, o Russian novelists. The background is sketched in with as much speed as possible; in the middle distance, and more in detail, appear the prophetic figures of Pushkin and Gogol; and finally we come to those three giants who still dominate Russian literature, —Turgeneff. Dostoyevsky and Tolstoy. They are the book's s raison d'être. The history of Russia during the last century is contained in the novels of these men they are their country's seers and poets, philosophers, politicians and historians. Under the terrible censorship that existed and, though to a less extent, still exists in Russia, the novel was found to be the only possible medium of ideas. After the conspiracy of 1848 for instance—" the teaching of philosophy was proscribed in all the schools and in all the universities of the empire The Classics were simi- larly ostracized. Historical publications were put under a censor s control, which was tantamount to a prohibition. No history of modem times, i.e., of the 17th or 18th centuries was allowed to be taught in any form whatsoever." But novels, if written with care, were capable of passing the censor's watchful eye. and into them were poured everything that in other European countries is carefully docketed and channeled into separate compartments. They were the text books and the "open sesame's" to knowledge for a younger generation crying out for intellectual food. Perhaps too, though not entirely, the censor is the cause of that curious detachment so characteristic of the Russian novelist. His method is to appear impartial. Facts after horrible facts are accumulated and presented to us no detail in the indictment is omitted, but there the Russian novelist leaves it. He does not pass judgment.. De Vogue's analysis of these three great men is an excellent example of creative criticism. It is extraordinary how in the space at his disposal he can create their very distinct and differentiated atmospheres; Turgeneff, liberal, cultured and gentle, almost classic in his love of form and balance, a Russian to the heart and yet a cosmopolitan Dostoyevsky a slavophil who desired nothing of the outside world, strong and passionately uncontrolled, prolix and a realist of the realists, with his faith in salvation through suffering and his literal acceptance of the Christian doctrine of love towards one's neighbour and finally Tolstoy, the novelist, cool and yet passionate, pessimist and nihilist, with his extraordinary skill in painting on enormous canvasses, always a little superior, always the master of his own creations. Of course the book being written in 1886, the later Tolstoy was only just beginning to emerge and his second period hardly comes within the purview of this work. Even so, there will be many who will feel inclined to regret with De Vogue the loss of the novelist in the preacher. The author is in the direct line of descent from the great French critics. There is a balance and an insight, above all a capability of selection and discrimination that seem to be the monopoly of France, and like a real Frenchman he can carry his knowledge lightly and gracefully. The translation is well done and there is a useful appendix at the end of the book giving the particulars of translations of the chief Russian works into French. It seems, however, a pity that the translator should not have compiled a similar list of translations into English. R.F.W. Until the Day Dawn The New Testament basis for a Doctrine of Inspiration (The Davies Lecture for 1909), by J. Puleston Jones, M.A. (Oxon). London James Clarke & Co. Pp. 331. 3s. 6d. net. The author of this able volume tells us with truth that a vague. floating suspicion that the foundations of faith have been under- mined is responsible for an incredible amount of unsettlement, and among the most fruitful causes of this state of affairs has been