POETRY.—The Prince's Quest, and other Poems. By William Watson. (C.

Regan Paul and Co.)—Mr. Watson tells in heroic verso of the fluent kind an allegorical story, which represents, we suppose, how the hopes and aspirations of a faithful soul are at last, after long waiting, fulfilled. The Prince dreams a dream of a fair Queen in some far-off land, and fools that it must be the object of his life to find her country and her. But when he goes on his quest he falls under the dominion of a malicious spirit, who keeps him imprisoned for fifty years. Released at last, ho makes his way to the wished-for country, but his years are a heavy burden on him :- " Heavily as old men do,

He fell to earth. and groaned aloud. and said,

• Old man, what would'st thou, with thy silvered head,

Yonder, where all their tresses be as gold For ever ? Thou art suffered to behold The city of thy search what wilt thou more ?

Tarry thou here upon this river shore ; Thou mighteet farther go. nor find the grass Greener, whereon to lay thy head, and pass Into the deep, dark, populous, empty laud.'"

But "a mighty thirst" impels him to drink of the river at his feet, and he is restored to his youth. The verso is easy an I melodious, though scarcely beautiful. We are fairly satisfied as w 3 read, but there is nothing that dwells in the memory. The languags is sometimes disfigured by a few eccentricities, such as " wox," for the preterite of to " wax." On the whole, the poem is a success, which would have been more decided if the writer could have put more rigour into it.—Elizabethan Echoes. By the late John Addis, M.A. Edited by his Sister. (Pickering.)—These are the posthumous poems of a man who evidently had no little poetical power. Why they have been called "Elizabethan Echoes" we cannot say. "Many a listening ear," says the editor, "will be reminded by these ` Echoes' of the quaint cadences of Robert Herrick, or the gentle rhythm of Sir Philip Sidney." Possibly there are some resemblances to Herrick, though these are few and faint. But then Herrick was not Elizabethan. The fact is, that Mr. Addis's poems are quite modern, both in thought and expression. " With Spring-Flowers " is a remarkably graceful flight of fancy. " My Mistress," which stands next to it in the volume, we must quote :— " the common fashion of the lover, I eschew—

Wildly swearing, there is nought above, Like perfection shall not man discover

All the world through—yet I dearly love her— Love, as few.

There Is Beauty more complete and splendid, I confess—

Finer grace to finer issues tended,

Parer outlines, colour, softlier blended— Yet I would not have her beauty mended By a tress.

There is wit more brilliant, insight deeper, Well I wis- Wit to wake to life the dullest sleeper, Golden harvests for the knowledge-reaper, Voices honey-laden—yet I'll keep her As she is.

There are Tempers gentler, calmer, sweeter,— That I know-

Grizzel hands the rod wherewith you bent her, Blessta for the curse wherewith you greet her—

Yet for me my Kate bath temper meeter,— Weal or woe.

Yes—my Kate—I love her, love her, lore her, IVith my soul ;-

Not because there is none else above her, Not because a man shall not discover Like perfection ;—but because I love her With my soul."

—Wild Oats, by Cave Winscom (Pickering), shows considerable ad- vance in power of expression on anything that we have seen before from this writer. We note a certain bitterness and exaggeration in his tone. This, we may hope, is a passing phase. The increase of power is manifest. The interspersed lyrical poems arc very good.—The Maid of Northumberland. By Daniel Bodinger Lucas. (G. P. Putnam's Sons, N.Y.)—Northumberland is a county in Virginia. Another story of the drama concerns the robbery of some Confederate bonds. For the first time these appear in verse. " Caspar," the gate-keeper and father of Mime, the heroine, says :- " The money I have taken from my gate,

These more than throe long years, now past and gone, All safely funded in Confederate Bonds, Or Registered Certificates, which is The same in substance and in meaning."

These are, perhaps, the most remarkable lines in the volume.—A Wreath of Songs, by the Cambridge Lotos Club. (Heighten and Bell ; Bell and Sons.)—There are some pretty verses here, but nothing that calls for particular notice. Sometimes, we think, the writer can scarcely have realised his meaning, in this stanza, for instance :- " Immotional shrines of the balanced mind,

From yen cold heights ye gaze down, With a chilling sneer, on the holy fear That sheds to the night-star many a tear,— Or at boat with a scathing frown."

What is meant by a " balanced mind " having shrines ? (is there any authority for " immotional," and how is the word formed ?) and can a shrine " sneer ?" A " frown " is, perhaps, a possible metaphor, but "a scathing frown" is too much. The " Lotos Club" must have a severer mason—Corn and Chaff; or, Double Acrostics, appears in a " Second Edition," with additions (Pickering).—The Battle of Senlac, and other Poems. By John M. Ashley, B.C.L. (Samuel Tinsley.)—Among other themes, Mr. Ashley has chosen the murder of Agrippina by Nero. He calls this poem " The Shipwreck." Here is a specimen of his verso :— " When at a given signal fell In with its load of lead, The cabin reef, to crush at once

The mother on her bed.

The shock bore Crepereius down, Whore struck, in death he fa'ls ; But Agrippina's life was saved Through strength of cabin walls.

OnAnicetns' plan, the ship Should now in pieties come. And finish well and thoroughly The hellish work begun.

It failed—and so confusion great Prevailed throughout the crew ; The secret purpose of the trip Was known but to a few.

The rowers said, ' To us it seems (According as we think) The best plan ie, to cant the ship, Making her quickly sink.'

But such a startling project failed Amongst themselves to find Unanimous consent thereto. Or bring them to one mind."

—We owe Mr. H. E. Malden, author of Poems (Chester : Phillipson and Malden), an apology for putting his volume in juxtaposition to this doggrol. The two chief pieces are classical,—" Helen in Troy " and "Achilles in Scyros." We cannot say that they have the really classical tone. On the contrary, they are essentially modern in thought and expression. But they show considerable command of language. Hero is a passage where Thetis urges upon her son the

choice of a peaceful life :—

" Let me paint the hours To come, the seasons of thy blessedness, The greenest springtide, when to breathe is joy. Glad winter meetings, when the firelight plays Red on the hall's rich hangings, and the wino Shines redder in the goblet. All shall be Thine hearkening to me. Happy summer time, When first the oldest horn comes staggering home, Laden with spoil of bunting, Hushed with pride Of youth thine own renewing. Vintage hour. , When site with clustered purple shadowed o'er Thy little daughter smiling like a babe Bacchus, or daintier Demeter crowned. All Argos knows no land to vie with thine. Oeta and Othrys, rich with woods and meads, Bear seas of upland pasture, waving green ; Bear thickets tangled round embowered lawns Where with thy friends the stag or sullen boar - Thou mayest follow, waging woodland war,

While bay thy hounds sweet music, and thy horn Rouses the nymphs from echoing hill Whin.. Then turn thee looking downward to the fields Yonder through blue mist shining, slope and vale With corn and vines are laughing."

Mr. Malden may do something of note hereafter.—We have also received A Lyric of Fairy land and other Poems, by Arthur E. Waits. (J. E. Catty.)—The Innocents : a Poem in Three Books, by the Rev. Samuel Wray. (Hodder and Stoughton.)—Musings in Verse on the Collects, by the Lady Laura Hampton (Kent and Co.) —Argentine, and other Poems, by Shirley Wynne (Eliot Stock).

We have received the following guide-books, which it is now an appropriate time to commend to our readers :—Tourist's Guide to Devonshire, by R. N. Worth, F.G.S. (Stanford) ; and Illustrated Guide to the Channel Islands, and Illustrated Guide to Edinburgh, Leith, Portobello, 4,c., both published by Messrs. Ward and Lock, and forming part of their series of " Illustrated Guides."