In a most interesting reprint of Brahms' Commonplace Book, where will be found many of the most striking passages of all sorts and kinds of literature from the Bible to Macaulay and many modern authors of all nationalities, there occurs at the end a quotation from Diderot which very aptly comments on certain tendencies of the present day “Quand on désespère de faire une chose belle, naturelle et simple, on en tente une bizarre.”