Hood in Scotland. Collected and Arranged by Alexander Elliot. (J.
P. Mathew, Dundee.)—Mr. Elliot has been at great pains to together a number of facts about the poet's kinafolk, and about the time which, for health's sake, he spent in Dundee. He subjects Hood's own account of his doings and acquaintances there to a severe criticism, which proves that there is a good deal of imagination in them, and he prints a poem which he is supposed to have sent to the Dundee Magazine. Unfortunately, there is nothing but internal evidence to judge by. On the whole, the authorship seems probable. One stanza certainly has the true ring :— "Sea you demure and pious maid,
She surely allows devotion true ; In robes of purity arrayed, Her bonnet, not her heart, is newt"
"The Bandir," which is undoubtedly his, is but a very poor imitation of "The Corsair." Hood paid another visit to Scotland near the end of his life, and of this there is an interesting account in this volume.
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