Lyrics of the Sea. By E. H. Brodie. (George Bell
and Sons.)— Mr. Brodie's verses would perhaps be best described by the term "rhetorical." The two lyrics which stand first in the volume and which give to it its title are very pleasant reading. They are' written in a good flowing metre, and possess a great deal of dash.. Mr. Brodie is evidently fond of his classics. Occasionally he seems to appropriate, no doubt unconsciously, lines which have seen the light before his day. Thus, we seem to have seen in Horace. something very like the beginning of his poem, "Ocean the Discoverer :"—
" Iron heart had be, who dared First in fragile barque to fly, Fronting with a brow unseared Roaring wind, and rending sky."
Further on in the volume is a translation of Firgirs Zneid Book iv., into rhyming heroics. It is fairly good. But he must be a brave man indeed who competes with Dryden on his own ground. Dryden's version may be too free, nay, often wrong; but it is matchless for ease and grace. Some pretty sonnets com- plete a very readable book.
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