25 JUNE 1864, Page 21

The Elixir of Youth, with other Poems. By John Lodge

Ellerton. (Longman and Co.)—The quaint old tales which the author has con- verted into ballads, form an agreeable change from " Lines" and " Phantom Voices," and poems on Passtum and Naples. Why should people write third-rate verses on Naples more than on Hastings, or on Psostum rather than Tintern Abbey ? There was a poet who chose the latter subject, and his poem is likely to live. There is no harm in Mr. Ellerton's compositions.