22 JUNE 1895, Page 22

CURRENT LITERATURE.

English Men of Letters : Scott ; Burns; Coleridge. (Macmillan and Co.) —This is a reprint of three of Mr. John Morley's "English Men of Letters " in a single volume,—namely, Scott, Burns, and Coleridge. It is obvious why Scott and Burns, the two great poets and literary men of Scotland, and also in part contem- poraries, should be placed together, but to our minds Wordsworth would have been the best English poet to associate with them. He was a neighbour of Burns's, though across the Border, and had all the affinities of a native of the Border with the hardy race who, whether they lived on this side or that side of the Border, made essentially outdoor poets. Mr. Traill's " Coleridge" is a delightful book, but Coleridge had nothing in him of the genius of the North, and very little of the characteristics of an outdoor poet. All the three subjects of the volume are, however, of great personal interest.