End mien. By John Keats. Illustrated by W. St. John
Harper. (Sampson Low and Co.)—It is a perilous adventure to illustrate Endyntion. All the excellences, even all the defects, of the poem, test with the utmost severity the artist's power. What pencil, for instance, is delicate enough to give visible shape to the elusive beauty of the goddess ? Surely the lady figured in the frontispiece is no superhuman being, but a young lady dressed for a party, with an electric star in her hair. "Cynthia," too, on p. 87, reminds us of Mopsa, who seems to have got by some strange chance among the clouds. "The fairest face that man e'er looked upon, pushed through a screen of roses," is inade- quately rendered by the somewhat mulatto-like beauty figured on p. 89. Surely, too, the face on p. 37, "the bright face I tasted in my sleep smiling in the clear well," is sadly wanting in spirituality. Mr. Harper does not, indeed, show his best in these single female heads. The procession of maidens on p. 13 is far better ; and his landscapes are effective, with their imaginative power. The illus-
trations on pp. 67 and 69 are good examples. The ice cave on p. 49, too, is good. There is grace also about the borders and
head-pieces. The illustrations are executed in photo-etching by Mr. Frank E. Barentzen with adequate technical skill. The binding, paper, and typography are all that could be wished.
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