17 JULY 1886, Page 25

Songs from the Novelists, from Elizabeth to Victoria. Edited, with

Introduction and Notes, by William Davenport Adams. (Ward and Downey.)—This very pleasant book, the form of which leaves nothing to be desired, has lain too long upon our shelves. It is a selection of songs from the most eminent of English novelists, from Sir Philip Sidney to George Meredith,—a book which has been long needed. It is both carious and interesting to compare the poetical efforts of writers whose imagination has chiefly run in the direction of imagina- tive prose.