T'he Amber Heart, and other Plays. By Alfred C. Calmour.
(Printed for private circulation.)—Mr. Calmour dedicates this volume to Miss Ellen Terry, whose impersonation of Ellaline in that pathetic "fancy," The Amber Heart, is regarded as one of her successes. We cannot say, however, from a perusal of the contents of this volume, whether its author will ever produce anything better than graceful, careful, but yet conventional cloister-plays. Even in The Amber Heart we have too many lines like these :— " They have returned. I heard them searching for me in the wood, But, like a timid hare, I trembling hid Beneath the fern till they had gone away."
The second piece in this collection, E/vestine, is to be commended as an interesting study of the time of Monmouth. Mr. Calmour may do better than he has done in this book, and as he is evidently desirous to perpetuate the best traditions of the English drama, it is to be hoped that he will make the attempt.
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