Life of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. By Eric S. Robertson.
(Walter Scott.)—Mr. Robertson tells the story of Longfellow's life—a story, indeed, easily told—sufficiently well, and readers who have not leisure for the bulky volumes of the poet's brother, will do well to have recourse to this book, with its reasonable compass of something less than two hundred pages. But we do not find ourselves always in agreement with Mr. Robertson's criticism, nor can we invariably approve his taste. It is legitimate to see in " Hyperion " a certain mawkishness, but it is needlessly offensive to follow this criticism up by the remark that "had Longfellow written only 'Hyperion,' we should have suspected him of being a man with a tendency to paw his friends ; a man who lacked fist and grip." This is a kind of slang which should be banished from the vocabulary of criticism as speedily as possible. We think, again, that Mr. Robertson does not do justice to Longfellow's humour. It is shown not =frequently, and of a delicate quality, both in "The Spanish Student" and in "The Golden Legend." Mr. Robertson treats this latter in a too matter-of-fact way. In a drama of fancy, we need not inquire whether or no Elsie ought to have gone with Prince Henry without a chaperon. We fancy that the first person singular, as used in the Latin voices of the bells, is according to precedent. Mr.
Robertson quotes a fine speech from "The Spanish Student," which he rightly praises ; but surely he is quite wrong when he says Shakespeare would not "have put stony tears in congealed eyes." This may not be in Shakespeare's best manner, but that it closely resembles one of Shakespeare's manners can hardly be .denied.
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