17 SEPTEMBER 1881, Page 22

Sanskrit, and its Kindred Literatures. By Laura E. Poor. (C.

Kegan Paul and Co.)—Miss Poor passes over a wide range of sub- jects. She starts from the earliest literature of Brahmanism, and comes down to "The Modern Poetry of Europe." Without profess- ing to judge of the value of all she writes, we may say that she attains sufficiently well her object,—this being "so to interest people in the new discoveries in literature as to induce them to study for themselves." She seems, indeed, to us to follow, without enough dis- cretion, the lead given by others in certain doubtful matters. It is certainly a trial to one's patience to be told that Romulus and Remus are the dawn and the twilight. There really must be some line drawn, where this endless and wearisome application of the "solar myth" is to stop. Apart from this question, we find that Miss Poor has studied her authorities diligently, and made use of them to put together a work of undoubted interest and value.