10 JULY 1886, Page 26

Translations from the Poems of Victor Hugo. By Henry Carrington,

M.A. (Walter Soott.)—This is a volume of the" Canterbury Poets." To be quite candid, Mr. Carington has not fully accomplished what he aims at. The simple poems are sometimes fairly well rendered, though the translator seems to lack that full command over lan- guage which is even more necessary for his task than it is for original composition. In the fierce invective of "Las Chitiments," he fails more decidedly. The versions want nerve. No one would writhe under these feeble blows. One cannot see in this volume the poet whom Mr. Swinburne seta almost first among the singers of the world. Here is as good a specimen as we can find of the translator's work :—

" HOPE IN GOD.

Hope, Child, te.morrow, and to-morrow still, And every morrow, hope ; trust while you live. Hope! and each time the dawn doth heaven fill, Be there to ask, as God is there to give.

Poor Angel ! say, 'For sin is sorrow sent : Perchance, if long I weep on banded knee, When He has first blessed all the Innocent, Then all the Contra 3, God may end with me.'" October, 18—.