Porray.—Poems of Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu. Edited by Alfred Percival

Graves. (Downey and Co.)—Mr. Le Fanu gave us such a surfeit of horrors in his prose, that we do not feel much appetite for the same food, dressed up with not quite equal skill, in verse. We may pass over, then, the drama of "Beatrice," and "The Legend of the Glaive." The minor poems have something more fresh and racy about them. " Phaudrig Crohoore " is a spirited Irish variant of "Young Lochinvar," but Phaudrig and his Kathleen do not live happily ever after, for- " He took a good pike—for Pbandrig was great—

And he fought and he fell in the year ninety-eight."

To the same period belongs "Shamus O'Brien." Here is the description of the man and his time :—

"It's them was hard times for an honest gossoon

If he missed in the judges—he'd meet a dragoon ; An' whether the aogers or judges gev sentence, The divil a mach time they allowed for repentance. An' it's many's the fine boy was then in his keepin', Wid small share iv restin', or atin', or sleepin• ; An' because they loved Erin, an' scorned to sell it,

A prey for the bloodhound, a mark for the bullet—

Unsheltered by night, and unrested by day, They'd the heath for their barrack, revenge for their pay.

An' the bravest an' hardiest boy iv them all Wai Shamus O'Brien, from the town iv Glingall.

His limbs were well set, an' his body was light, Au' the keen-fanged hound had not teeth half so white.

But his face was as pale as the face of the dead.

And his cheek never warmed with the blush of the red ; An' for all that be wasn't an ugly young bye, For the &aril himself couldn't blaze with his eye, So droll an' so wicked, so dark and so bright, Like a fire-flash that crosses the depth of the night ; An' he was the best mower that ever has been, An' the illigantest hurler that ever was seen.

In finch? he ;rev Patrick Mooney a out, An' in jumpin• he bate Tim Maiowney a tut; For lightness iv fut there was never his peer, For, by aorta, he'd almost outrun the red deer ; An' his dancing was soh that the men used to stare, An' the women turn crazy, he done it so quare;

An', by gorre, the whole world gel, it in to him there."

—Tannlauser,and other Poems. By Herbert E. Clarke. (Bertram Dobell.)—The theme of Mr. Clarke's principal poem is scarcely suited to this century. The poet who believed that the Venus of the mountains was an actual being, only too real and powerful, found a genuine inspiration in it. The modern singer uses it to express his belief in the new Paganism :— " Goddess and Queen, thine altars smoke no more, Another's praise than thine ascends the sky."

We have heard this over and over again. It means nothing but a revolt against morals. "The Knight's Masquerade" is another retold tale, with a strong flavour of Chaucer. Mr. Clarke's power of expression is at its best in the following :—

0 RAIN IN THE RIVER.

Le, the image of man's endeavour ;

Foam and bubzles that burst and flee: Rain in the river—rain in the liver—

Rain in the river that hastes to sea.

Tears are flowing for ever and ever.

Many for sorrow, and some for glee:

Rain in the river—rain in the river—

Rain in the river that hastes to sea.

Resignation that falters never ; Bitter revolt at the wrongs that be :

Rain in the river—rain in the river—

Rain in the river that hams to sea.

What shall hearten us ? What deliver ?

Virtue and Truth that make wise and free:

Rain in the river—rain in the river—

Rain in the river that !lutes to sea.

May we have courage to fight for ever, And never to yield, the' our blood may be

Rain in the river—rain in the river—

Rain in the river that hastes to sea."

—in the Dorian Mood. By Victor Plarr. (John Lane.) —Mr. Plarr is one of the verse-writers whom it is not easy to place. He often seems to be near saying something really good, but never quite does it. One would be more hopeful about him, especially as this seems to be a first effort, but for one or two indications of a radically defective taste. A writer who can persuade himself that there is merit in a metrical paraphrase of "Ecclesiastes, chap. xii." in this style,— " For him the sun, and moon, and stars are dark :

After the rain the clouds return for him.

The keepers of his soul's house quake in limb, The strong men bow themselves adown, and hark,"—

is in a bad way. Mr. Plarr deals with many themes, but his knowledge is scarcely exact. In his verses "To a Greek Gem" he speculates whether—

"Sealed it wise edicts, or when Luoan chose His artful liberal death was it the sign P'

We are not quite sure what is meant by "artful liberal," but conjecture that it signifies the death of a patriot-poet who loved his art to the last. Unfortunately Lucan did not choose any such death, but sought to escape his fate by shameful treason, informing against his own mother. Where, we should like to know, does Matthew Arnold ask— "Is conduct all ? siEe grace, and light, and wit Not chiefly good in this Boeotian age"?

This was not the "great Oxonian's" teaching.—Nocturnes and Pastorals. By A. Bernard Miall. (L. Smithers.)—This "Book of Verses "is not without sweetness, but the sweetness is some- what sickly. There is fancy, but it is often extravagant, as- " The stars have found the sky unkind

But found sweet peace within your eyes."

Mr. Miall thanks the editors of various journals for permission to reprint some of his verses. It is well to warn the reader who may take this as a guarantee for the whole, that there are sundry poems in the volume that no newspaper would venture to print. —Flamma Vestalis. By Eugene Mason.. (T. Fisher Unwin.)— Mr. Mason has a fine feeling for art, and finds in it the inspira- tion for some very melodious verse. We should like something more vigorous and manly. Still there is promise in a writer who can give us the following :—

"A CHILD'S DREAMS.

When bed-lime came, and childish prayers were prayed,

She fell asleep, for all dear tales were told—

Aladdin's lamp, the dwares enchanted gold, And simple rhymes that please a little maid. And now her curls—how like the soft dark braid Worn neat my heart—fell, tangled fold in fold, Whilst with kissed cheeks deep pillowed Irons the cold She dreams, watched close by love, and unafraid. What silver shapes and shining fantasies

Make night dreams strange as day dream., and 1120,0 fair!

The red-cloaked witch who climbed Raerioters hair Haunts she this slumber ? or may now arise Her mother's presence stooping softly there, With shadowy hair, and misty love-lit eyes?"

—Verses, Suggested and Original. By E. H. Lacon Watson. (A. D. Innes and Co.)—We must own to a great feeling of relief when we get away from the sentimentalism, often nauseous and always tedious, of some versifiers of the day, to the fresh and vigorous humour which we find in Mr. Watson. Here is a most apposite specimen of his Muse :—

"AD PHEW{ MINORE8. Ye posts, who will ever sing

Of Love and all her stele conceits. Desist, this humbler bard ontreats, And strike some newer, livelier string.

The greatest singers in the land Have sung that tune, and sung it well ; They've told us all there was to tell, Why should you try your 'prentice band ?

Why labour on in such a field,

Whose crop was reaped long years ago? Attend to me, and I will show Soil that shall give a goodlier yield.

Foredoomed to failure, you abuse A heartless world, and yet there lies A mine of wealth before your eyes, Could you but tame your fiery muse. Come, sink your pride, and raise anew A brighter song, a gayer strain ; Tell us of Drugs to cure our pain, Deck them with praises, false or true, Hymn to us Pills and Soap and Scent Go, twang the harp, and bang the lyre, And temper your poetic fire To penning an Advertisement.

Tempt not the ancient, hackneyed lays Of gallant knight and loving maid; Learn as the maxim of your trade 'That work is best wh:eh highest pays.'"

Yes, a really melodious panegyric on soap, for instance, might help in cleansing a world which some miserable versifiers are doing their little worst to make unclean.—Divers Ditties. By Alec McMillan. (A. Constable.)—This volume consists almost entirely of verses that first appeared in the Allahabad Pioneer. Their themes are Indian. Such is "The Model Alibi," a plea which did not get its deserts from an unfeeling Judge :— "With rough, rude hand, with rough, rude wit,

He held it up to view : Its joiniugs delicately knit, He poked his fingers through.

And as he scanned it o'er and o'er, He odd, • It's not amiss, But I've seen Alibis ten score, As good—or bad—as this."

Some of the pieces might have been omitted with advantage.— The Ways of the World. By Cotsford Dick. (G. Itedway.) —Here is another volume of humorous and satirical verse, some of it distinctly forcible, and, we are glad to say, on the right side. Here are some verses which we would specially commend as "a lay sermon" to certain dramatists whom we need not name :— " Ye gentlemen who serve the British drama With all the wit and wisdom of your pen, Who from a highly cultivated Karma Evolve your views of manners and of men,

I would but ask, as one whom oft an order Admits, a worshipper, within your Imes,

Why, by degrees, your plays are growing broader? (I trust the word sufficiently explains.)

Has decency no far gone out of fashion That ye must needs, to catch the English folk. Dip for your plots in troubled pools of passion, And bait your lines with spicy itguieogue Why are your personages so full-blooded. Why nail such scarlet colours to your mast, And hold aloft as' She-who-must-be-studied' The Lady of th! apologetic paid?"

-A Trip to Fairy Land. By the Rev. John Morgan. (Elliot Stock.)-Wo cannot say more than this is a volume of creditable verse, never sinking into the absolutely prosaic, and never rising into the inspiration of poetry.-Julian's Vision, and other Poems, by F. W. Kingston (T. Fisher Unwin), is, we must own, somewhat tedious, till we get to the praise of North- ampton. Here the author is really interested, and he interests us, but we are not sure that his local patriotism is best expressed in verse. -Three Irish Bardic Tales, by John Todhunter (J. M. Dent and Co), contains metrical versions of three tales, "The Doom of the Children of Lir," "The Fate of the Sons of Usna," and "The Lamentation for the Three Sons of Turanu."-Another volume of translations is, Welsh Lyrics of the Nineteenth Century, selected and translated by Edmund 0. Jones (Simpkin, Mar- shall, and Co.) Here are specimens from no less than thirteen Welsh poets. Perhaps the most vigorous piece in the volume is "The Traitors of Wales" by John Ceiriog Hughes. The story is that of the betrayal of Caractacus by Queen Cartismandua ; but the poet takes occasion to show a fierce hatred of England. It is a curious fact that not one of the thirteen bards here represented reached the age of seventy.-We have also received :-The Exiles. By Marcus S. C. Rickards. (G. Bell and Sons.)-The Maid's Last Morn. By Marinell. (Digby and Long.)-Poems. By E. B. Money-Coutts. (J. Lane.)-Nocturnes and Day-Dreams. By St. John Lucas Lane. (G. E. Over, Rugby.)-The Song of Brotherhood, and other Verses. By J. Le Gay Brereton. (George Allen.)-With the Tide, anti other Poems. By Eleanoi Foster. (Gay and Bird.)-Lays of the Bards. (Leadenhall Press.)- The Husband of Poverty (Francis of Assisi): a Drama. By H. N. Maugham. (Elliot Stock.)-Tales of Ind, and other Poems. By T. Ramakrishna. (T. Fisher Unwin.)