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Notes by "Liber."

"The Fallen Star," by J. H. Dunn. (Calfskin, autographed copies 6 gns. Proceeds to be devoted entirely to the S.E.S.M.^*).

This volume is in the author's best style. For the benefit of the uninitiated we must explain that this is no lurid novelette of high life pregnant with warnings for members of the C.U., any hard-earned cash handed over the counter for this publication is indeed money well spent. The autobiography of a Man,

"One who inarched nose forward"

will gradually unfold before the fortunate purchaser.

Luckily for posterity our hero was not one of the doomed, desert flowers,

"Born to blush unseen,"

but one around whom as hub a great institution revolved and flourished,

"Hail to thee blithe spirit,"

The poet who penned the ode of which this is the inaugural line had an eye which, throwing a beam of light before it, lit on our hero among the unborn spirits of the future; and as we turn from page to page of this enthralling work, we feel, nay, rather we know,

"It was no mudlark, but our Jimmy D."

But every celestial body passes on its way, and having reached a glorious (?) zenith this radiant meteor vanished from our ken.

"But still there lingers in our hearts a glow,
We hope he's happy stoking up below."

Poems.—Author Anonymous. This series has just been published and is well worth dipping into. Poems are above all things difficult to criticise, we do not feel competent to attempt the task, but will take the liberty of quoting briefly:—

Lo, who is this that lights upon our ken,
Author and farmer, most versatile of men?
One day behind the plough he treads his way
Brow to the breeze, or urges on the dray,
Curses the dogs or folds the flocking sheep,
Then, toil all over, cleaves the briny deep.
Strides on the hills, and wields a hefty spade,
Mounts a bucking broncho, fierce as made.
Surely he's not the great psychologist,
Master of verse and powerful dramatist
Whose shining intellect illumes our halls,
And whose sharp pen on prof, and student falls
With equal weight? Oh, D-n-ld, here's to thee,
Equalled by none in versatility!

"Rhodesia" or "Jack of all Trades, Master of None," by John P.M.

A graphic study of life in Rhodesia seen through the eyes of a dilettante is of much interest to all V.U.C. students whose page 23 acquaintance with that land of sunshine has hitherto been strictly limited to brief views vouchsafed unto us by the grace of F.P. or Ethel M. Dell. The sinewy men and fragile women about whom so much has been written by these authors do not darken the pages of this book at all. Rather do we find this a study of how to get to that delectable land. The writer, a famous Rugby enthusiast, accomplished the stupendous feat of rowing from New Zealand to Sydney. There he found that he had just missed his connection owing to a contretemps with a twenty foot shark, whose friendly advances he was obliged to repel by one of his mighty upper cuts. Nothing daunted by the departure of the liner, he slipped on his running shoes and by a magnificent cross-country effort reached the wharf at Melbourne just as the gangway was rising.

The racy humour which is characteristic of this volume is only equalled by the modesty of the writer. Altogether he impresses us as being a most exceptional university product. [Thank God.—Ed.]