ities, and in their own
delicately limited sphere they have no contemporary rivals; they have
none even second to them. However, Mr. Matthews is quite undaunted and
tries to drag poor Mr. Locker out of Piccadilly, where he was really
quite in his element, and to set him on Parnassus where he has no right
to be and where he would not claim to be. He praises his work with the
recklessness of an eloquent auctioneer. These very commonplace and
slightly vulgar lines on A Human Skull:

It may have held (to shoot some random shots)
Thy brains, Eliza Fry! or Baron Byron's;
The wits of Nelly Gwynne or Doctor Watts--
Two quoted bards. Two philanthropic sirens.

But this, I trust, is clearly understood,
If man or woman, if adored or hated--
Whoever own'd this Skull was not so good
Nor quite so bad as many may have stated;

are considered by him to be 'sportive and brightsome' and full of
'playful humor,' and 'two things especially are to be noted in
them--individuality and directness of expression.' Individuality and
directness of expression! We wonder what Mr. Matthews thinks these words
mean.

Unfortunate Mr. Locker with his uncouth American admirer! How he must
blush to read these heavy panegyrics! Indeed, Mr. Matthews himself has
at least one fit of remorse for his attempt to class Mr. Locker's work
with the work of Mr. Austin Dobson, but like most fits of remorse it
leads to nothing. On the very next page we have the complaint that Mr.
Dobson's verse has not 'the condensed clearness' and the 'incisive vigor'
of Mr. Locker's. Mr. Matthews should confine himself to his clever
journalistic articles on Euchre, Poker, bad French and old jokes. On
these subjects he can, to use an expression of his own, 'write funny.' He
'writes funny,' too, upon literature, but the fun is not quite so
amusing.

Pen and Ink: Papers on Subjects of More or Less Importance. By Brander
Matthews. (Longmans, Green and Co.)

SOME LITERARY NOTES--III

(Woman's World, March 1889.)

Miss Nesbit has already made herself a name as a writer of graceful and
charming verse, and though her last volume, Leaves of Life, does not show
any distinct advance on her former work, it still fully maintains the
high standard already achieved, and justifies the reputation of the
author. There are some wonderfully pretty poems in it, poems full of
quick touches of fancy, and of pleasant ripples of rhyme; and