Like the essays in Points of view (1958), the essays in The vagrant mood were written in W. Somerset Maugham later life, and bear characteristics of being written leisurely, based on reminiscences of an author who is looking back on a long and interesting life.

In the first essay, "Augustus", Maugham describes the life and fate of Augustus Hare, "the last Victorian" who appears as quite a dandy. Maugham had met and befriended Augustus Hare as a young man and was obviously fascinated by this peculiar descendant of pedigree.

In a similar vein, the last essay "Some Novelists I Have Known" describes authors Maugham met in his life time, particularly in his later life. There are some very enjoyable anecdotes about Henry James, H.G. Wells and Arnold Bennett.

The second essay in the collection describes Maugham's appreciation and the life of the Spanish painter Francisco de Zurbarán. The next three essays are about letters, "The Decline and Fall of the Detective Story", "After Reading Burke" and "Reflections on a Certain Book".

The vagrant mood seems particularly interesting for readers with an interest in the late Victorian and Edwardian period, the epoch W. Somerset Maugham himself was active, as it contains his observations and reflections of the literary and cultural scene at that time. ( )