25 NOVEMBER 1916, Page 16

An Evening in My Library among the English Poets. By

the Hon. Stephen Coleridge. (John Lane. 3s. 6d. net.)—This is a very uncon- ventional anthology, interspersed with some candid criticism. The modern apostles of " force " like Mr. Masefield, and the late Rupert Brooke, and Francis Thompson in his highly rhetorical mood are sternly reproved, and the critic does not fear to lay hands on the immortal Burns himself for his inconsistent use of the Ayrshire dialect. For our part, we could wish that Mr. Coleridge had not included second-rate modern verse like "The Rosary," and that he had hesitated before asserting that Goldsmith's " Deserted Village " was inspired while Gray's " Elegy " was not.