The Poems of Charles Wolfe. With Introductory Memoir by C.
Litton Falkiner. (A. H. Bullen. 3s. 6d. net.)-Wolfe was certainly a man unites poematis. Mr. Falkiner has collected here the few verses that he wrote, possibly a thousand in all. Now and then there is a touch of melody and sprightliness in them, but there is scarcely a line which one would care to remember. "The Battle of Busaco," an heroic poem, abounds with examples of bathos ; as for the "Song," "Oh, my love has an eye of the softest blue," which the editor praises, its merits are of the slenderest. Here is a stanza, and not the poorest :-
.• Think not 'tis nothing but lifeless clay, The elegant form that haunts me-
'Tis the gracefully delicate mind that moves In every step that enchants me."
The execution here is lamentably poor. Truly the "Burial of Sir John Moore" was an inspiration. The story of how Wolfe's claims-questioned , more than once-were finally established is interesting. The autograph letter in which the first copy was sent to a friend was buried among the papers of Mr. Luby nearly twenty years after the poet's death. A facsimile of this letter is given here, and is a notable curiosity.
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