CHRISTMAS OBSERVED brings together

a selection of the best literature written

on this celebration over the centuries.

The first part of the volume contains

seven pieces on the spiritual meaning of

the event itself, from the piety of John

Milton s On the Morning of Christ s

Nativity through to the modern-day

concern of men such as Anthony Ross

and Hugh MacDiarmid. In contrasts,

G. K. Chesterton provides an entertain-

ing detective story, The Flying Stars, and

Robert Louis Stevenson the chilling

Markheim, the story of a Christmas

murder. Stevenson s poem Christmas

at Sea is also included, together with

Rudyard Kipling s Christmas in India,

providing a glimpse of Christmas abroad.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle s humorous ( and

hitherto unpublished in book form) An

Exciting Christmas Eve, together with

examples of the humour of Saki, P. G.

Wodehouse and Arnold Bennett, illus-

trate the lighter side of the festivities.

Extracts from the diaries of Samuel Pepys

and T.B. Macaulay s History of England,

together with Joseph Addison s SirRoger

on Christmas provide an insight into

Christmas past, and a collection of

poems, including Thomas Hardy s Christ-

mas, 1924, shows Christmas in the