Hearty Misadventures

DEFY THE FOUL FIEND-John Collier-Knopf ($2.50).

On a tag of Shakespeare (''Keep thy foot out of brothels, thy hand out of plackets, thy pen from lenders' books, and defy the foul fiend"&151; King Lear), Author John Collier has written a robust and racy novel of which Henry Fielding would have been proud. Readers of Defy the Foul Fiend may look forward to continuous entertainment of a high order, will close the book with the feeling that they have added a first-rate volume to their library of 20th Century English letters. No literary left-winger but a traditionalist, Author Collier adds his bit to the quietly accumulating evidence that Tories are not only men of sense but often men of sensibility as well.

Willoughby Corbo was a by-blow. His father was a noble wastrel, his mother a cook. To avoid the unwonted inconveniences of parentage, Lord Ollebeare foisted off his bastard on a childless brother, a mean but respectable citizen, and thought no more about it. Willoughby's education was informal. His mentors were a coachman, whom he admired, a butler, whom he hated, and the books in his foster-father's library. At 20, without benefit of university, he was sent into the world to make his living. Willoughby's first and only job was as private secretary to bumbling Lord Stumber. Willoughby liked the job, adored Lady Stumber. When his devotion became too obstreperous she made him the scapegoat to cover the tracks of her real lover. Dismissed in disgrace and nearly down & out. Willoughby encountered his father for the first time, thought him a delightful old rip. Lord Ollebeare gave him some good advice, but shamelessly swindled him out of most of his remaining cash. Willoughby's education proceeded rapidly. On a tip from his father he visited another uncle, a decaying gentleman farmer, to try to chisel his way into an inheritance. He and the old man took to each other; Willoughby went back to London with an allowance.

He fell in love. All went swimmingly until the girl's father decided that Willoughby was no catch, did his level best to break up the affair. Willoughby dissipated his feelings, acquired a heartless mistress, got into debt, lived in squalor. When his true love finally came back to him both had much to forgive. But at last they were married, went to live on the ancestral farm Willoughby had inherited. For a few years they were happy; then Willoughby's blood began to tell. He grew more and more like his old uncle, sank deeper and deeper into the soil, while his wife stifled for a breath of the civilization she was used to. Eventually they agreed to separate; she went back to town and left Willoughby to his Spartan acres and his Spartan thoughts.

Though Author Collier's story is smartly up-to-date, its tone is urbanely 18th Century, with echoes of even earlier times. He can be as coolly modern as the next ("a girl as beautiful as one of the lesser cats"). With an eye on his ancestors he can write thus of lawyers: "Very well, he will speak now high, now low, now he'll pause, then let fly with his privileged insolence at some poor muzzled fool who witnesses for the defense, then flatter the jury with a sneer, then tickle them with an obscene pathos&151;oh! he does everything, and all to make dullards believe what his own weasel keenness perceives to be false. With that, he will wither up every just plea to mercy, or let innocence itself go hang."

The Author. For one so young (33). John Collier has written a varied lot of books. At 29 he published his first novel. His Monkey Wife, a satire which fluttered the critics but missed the popular fancy. His anthology of John Aubrey, 17th Century scandalist (The Scandal and Credulities of John Aubrey) tickled plainer readers. Just the Other Day (with Iain Lang) an English copycatting of Frederick Lewis Allen's Only Yesterday, was a popular potboiler. Full Circle (English title: Tom's A-Cold), a story of the modern world relapsed into barbarism, should be required reading for H. G. Wellsians (TIME, May 22. 1933). He has also published an only-privately-printable satire on Science (No Traveller Returns), two other limited editions. Poetry reviewer for Viscountess Rhondda's Time and Tide, stocky, jovial Author Collier rusticates in Hampshire, '"indistinguishable." says he, "in appearance and pursuits from any other country bumpkin.''

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