The Songs and Poems of Robert Burns. (Edinburgh: T. N.
Foulis. 10s. 6d. net.)—Edinburgh firms have done well and loyally by Burns in the publishing and the good printing on excellent paper of this stout volume. Lord Rosebery has written an "apprecia- tion" in preface, which is naturally a rather more careful study than the eulogies which he has delivered by word of mouth with a frequency that he (not his audiences) has deplored. It is all too short and contains very little criticism that can be strictly called literary. It is devoted mainly to the poet's life and character. Lord Rosebery quotes opinions which set the prose writings of Burns above his verse, and his conversation above both. But he dwells also upon the inspiration and sympathy which give the poetry its hold upon mankind. The book is illustrated by many reproductions in colour of pictures, some well blown, others less familiar. Nasmyth's portrait comes first, and is followed by pictures by Stothard, Wilkie, and several Victorian Scottish illustrators and modern painters.
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