29 AUGUST 1885, Page 23

Odd Half-Hours on Odd Half-Sheets. By Granville Gordon. Seale , Chifferiel,

and Co.)—Lord Granville Gordon has a decided talent for ballad-writing. He has an excellent ear for melody, and a considerable command of rhythmical language, which he can evidently employ without effort. In the little volume before us, he exercises his talent for versifying occasionally in the graceful expression of very pretty feeling, but more often in parody and burlesque. Some of these parodies—like that on " The Ancient Mariner," for example —are decidedly clever. We think, however, that some of them had better have been omitted. The author is capable of producing really good verses, and we trust that he will employ his undoubted gifts on more serious themes than some of those with which he has amused his idle hours in this volume. On that condition we shall gladly welcome another production from his facile pen.