From Grave to Gay. A Volume of Selections from the
Complete Poems of H. Cholmondeley-Pennell. (Longmans.)—A little volume
such as this needs no criticism. Most of our readers are probably familiar with Mr. Cholmondeley-Pennell'a art as a brilliant writer of occasional verses and of lyrics whose poetical merit must be tried by another standard. In this dainty-looking collection we have the cream of the author's poetry, and very rich some of it is. Some happily- turned lines "To Frederick Locker" come with good grace from a writer whose genius may be said to ran in the same channel. His command of rhyme is admirable, his sense of mirth strong, his art in the management of his subjects sometimes consummate. As a parodist, the "Song of Lower Water" and the "Fight for the Championship" are clever specimens of the writer's
skill ; of his vers de societ4 it is difficult—where the supply is so
ample and, for the most part, so good—to select pieces especially worthy of praise. Perhaps, however, the reader who wishes to form an estimate of Mr. Cholmondeley-Pennell's craft as a fellow-workman with Prior, Praed, and Mr. Locker will be able to do so when he has made the acquaintance of "Little Bo-peep," "Outside," "Trials of a
Dyspeptic," "Next Morning," " Faite a Peindre," "A Little Beauty,"
and "Twenty-one to-morrow." These are short poems, and it is chiefly in short poems, as it seems to us, that the author excels. We may add that the book is printed on band-made paper, is dedicated
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