gentle application of them, cannot fail to impress any student,
critic, or reader who opens his mind to them. The need of con-
temporary critics whose aim too often is merely a factual descrip-
tion of their own reactions, is right principles. The need of those
who profess right principles, is unswerving application of them.

The chief aim of this volume, then, is to make accessible Thomp-
son's hitherto unknown or uncollected criticism. Most of the
material is here, for the first time, identified as Thompson's. Noth-
ing here included has previously appeared in a published volume
of Thompson's prose. "Sanctity and Song," as here printed, is
the second of two articles under that title contributed to Franciscan
Annals. The first article is the essay to be found in Mr. Meynell's
definitive edition.

The means of identifying the material here presented was first
placed at the editor's disposal by Mr. Meynell, at Greatham, during
the summer of 1938. During that visit, Mr. Meynell presented
the editor with many of Thompson's notebooks, letters and manu-
scripts which, upon more leisurely examination, at home, yielded
further clues for the identification of unsigned reviews and articles.
In 1945, immediately after the conclusion of World War II, the
editor, through the courtesy of the State Department, was per-
mitted to return to England. There, through Mr. Meynell's
unfailing kindness, the work was completed.

With the exception of "Varia," the arrangement of material
within a chapter is as follows. General articles are placed first,
followed by those on particular subjects, alphabetically arranged
according to the subject treated. Where there is more than one
article on the same subject, they are grouped together in the order
of their original publication. "Varia" is, in general, arranged
according to the dates when the articles appeared. But those on
Shakespeare are grouped together, and "Books That Have Influ-
enced Me" is placed at the end, because it is not a literary criticism.

T. L. C.

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