THE FUTURE

i. Clissold (1927)

Mr. Wells and his publisher having adopted aningenious device by which his newest book 1 hasbeen reviewed three times over, perhaps it is toomuch to write about it again at this late date.But, having read the reviews first and the bookafterwards, I am left seriously discontentedwith what the professional critics have had tosay. It is a weakness of modern critics not todistinguish—not to distinguish between onething and another. Even Mr. Wells’s choiceof form has confused his reviewers. They failto see what he is after. They reject the goodbeef which he has offered the British public,because mutton should never be underdone.Or their delicacies are sharpened against hisabundance and omnivorous vitality, the broad-ness and coarseness of the brush with which hesweeps the great canvas which is to catch theattention of hundreds of thousands of readersand sway their minds onward.

Mr. Wells here presents, not precisely his

1 The World of William Clissold. 3 vols.

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