his bosom friends, Andrew Fraser of Christ Church was reported wounded and missing in the same Cambrai fighting, E. J. Solomon of Exeter College, who is commemorated in “Gold Braid,” was killed in August 1917, while Ian M‘Kenzie of Balliol has fallen in the present battle.
In the army the Gael in him, artist and man, ripened quickly. With growing strength and health he grew in the control and the use of his own powers and in influence over other men. He cherished political ambitions, whether to be fulfilled in the Colony or in England he scarcely knew. As a soldier he united brilliant courage with gentleness, and humour with resolution. His vivid and affectionate nature remained undulled through the years of warfare.
The present volume contains a number of pieces, some early and some late, which the author, had he lived, might have omitted. His many friends, and those who will know him only through his two books, will alike feel that from a last volume as little as need be should be excluded. It is difficult for one who knew him very intimately to estimate his work, for in each poem the author’s personality speaks with engaging and engrossing clearness. There is much in this volume and in “A Highland Regiment” (1917) that is already peculiarly complete and rounded in idea and also finished in form. There
