* * * * *

Your enjoyment of The Head of the Family (METHUEN) may in a measure depend upon your capacity to appreciate William Linkhorn and the glory of his “great flaming beard.”  To me, unhappily, William was an uncouth rustic, just that and very little else; but he possessed some mysterious attraction for women; so, at any rate, Mrs. HENRY DUDENEY tells me, though she does not explain to my satisfaction what it was. Phoebe-Louisa married him partly because she wanted a man to help in her greengrocery; but what charm he had for her soon waned, and she smote hard when she caught him philandering with Beausire Fillery.  It was all the lady’s fault; William had, so to speak, only to wave his beard and she was at his feet.  But if the hirsute feature of this story leaves me cold it is easy enough to enjoy and admire the rest.  The Firebraces, spoken of here as “The Family,” are most admirably drawn.  Never has the condescension of county people to those less exalted in birth been described with more delightful irony.  True that some of the Firebraces kicked over the traces and married whom they listed, but the family as a whole was rooted deep enough to stand shocks which would have devastated people of less assured position.  The scenes of the story are laid in and around Lewes, a part of England dear to Mrs. DUDENEY’S heart, and of which she writes with real comprehension and devotion.

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By a self-denying ordinance Mr. Punch declines, as a general rule, to review in these columns the work of his Staff.  But he may permit himself to announce to all lovers of the gay humour of “A.A.M.” that Messrs. HODDER AND STOUGHTON have just brought out a new novel, Once on a Time, by Mr. ALAN A. MILNE, with illustrations by Mr. H. M. BROCK.

* * * * *

[Illustration:  A CONSOLING THOUGHT.

Belated Traveller (surprised by a bull when taking a short cut to the station). “BY JOVE!  I BELIEVE I SHALL CATCH THAT TRAIN AFTER ALL.”]

* * * * *

    “Alexander had his ‘Plutarch’ always under his pillow.”—­British
    Weekly.

This must have been a very early edition.

* * * * *

    “Colombo is suffering from an attack of rabies and there have been
    38 cases reported so far.  In the first six months of the year 1,300
    days were destroyed.”—­Singapore Free Press.

Let us hope that every day had its dog.