s
photograph of H.R.H. the Princess of Wales in her Academic Robes as
Doctor of Music, which served as our frontispiece last month, and to
Messrs. Hills and Saunders, of Oxford, and Mr. Lord and Mr. Blanchard, of
Cambridge, for a similar courtesy in the case of the article on Greek
Plays at the Universities.

(1) Canute the Great. By Michael Field. (Bell and Sons.)

(2) Life of Elizabeth Gilbert. By Frances Martin. (Macmillan and Co.)

(3) Ourselves and Our Neighbours. By Louise Chandler Moulton. (Ward and
Downey.)

(4) Warring Angels. (Fisher Unwin.)

(5) A Song of Jubilee and Other Poems. By Mrs. De Courcy Laffan. (Kegan
Paul.)

(6) Life of Madame de Stael. By Bella Duffy. 'Eminent Women' Series.

(7) Life of Mrs. Godolphin. By John Evelyn, Esq., of Wooton. Edited by
William Harcourt of Nuneham. (Sampson Low, Marston and Co.)

THE POETS' CORNER--V

(Pall Mall Gazette, February 15, 1888.)

Mr. Heywood's Salome seems to have thrilled the critics of the United
States. From a collection of press notices prefixed to the volume we
learn that Putnam's Magazine has found in it 'the simplicity and grace of
naked Grecian statues,' and that Dr. Jos. G. Cogswell, LL.D., has
declared that it will live to be appreciated 'as long as the English
language endures.' Remembering that prophecy is the most gratuitous form
of error, we will not attempt to argue with Dr. Jos. G. Cogswell, LL.D.,
but will content ourselves with protesting against such a detestable
expression as 'naked Grecian statues.' If this be the literary style of
the future the English language will not endure very long. As for the
poem itself, the best that one can say of it is that it is a triumph of
conscientious industry. From an artistic point of view it is a very
commonplace production indeed, and we must protest against such blank
verse as the following:

From the hour I saw her first, I was entranced,
Or embosomed in a charmed world, circumscribed
By its proper circumambient atmosphere,
Herself its centre, and wide pervading spirit.
The air all beauty of colour held dissolved,
And tints distilled as dew are shed by heaven.

Mr. Griffiths' Sonnets and Other Poems are very simple, which is a good
thing, and very sentimental, which is a thing not quite so good. As a
general rule, his verse is full of pretty echoes of other writers, but in
one sonnet he makes a distinct attempt to be original and the resu