17 NOVEMBER 1888, Page 18

The (Iuishan - I - Iltly. With Selections from "The RubaYyitt of Omar Khayitm."

(Triibner and Co.)—Of the merits of this work as a translation we are not competent to judge. The poem itself is of a philosophical nature, and would be exceedingly uninteresting to the majority of readers, were it not occasionally relieved by the beautiful imagery of Eastern poetry. The blank verse into which it is translated, though scarcely of a high order, is not altogether unmelodious. We would, however, advise the author to avoid, as a rule, such lines as,— " Letters its oyster shells, pearls of the heart's wisdom,"

or,—

" The manifestor in ripe hour manifeet."

The translations from the " Rubaiyitt," though they are doubtless more literal, seem poor and spiritless when compared with the masterpiece of Mr. Fitzgerald.