31 OCTOBER 1896, Page 26

Heine, but he is one of the tenderest and simplest,

whose sympathy with Nature and with human life is wholly free from senti- mentality. At the same time, he is a master of style, and his lovely verse satisfies the ear as well as the heart. Goethe praised his ballads, and his fame as a writer of ballads has, perhaps, lessened his reputation as a lyric poet, but it may be doubted whether his highest gift is not to be seen in the musical expres- sion of the feelings which come home to all hearts, although to

the poet alone is it permitted to give them utterance. "Besides Goethe," says Professor Hewett, "there is hardly any German. poet whose poems have been so often set to music as those of Uhland. Since 1820, with few exceptions, almost every German composer has set single poems to music." This edition of Uhland's poetry contains perhaps everything which an English student will care to read, for his dramas do not enhance his fame. The notes give all the information likely to be needed, and the introduction, although not particularly well written, shows that the editor is a master of his subject That a work by an American Professor and produced by an English publisher in New York should be defaced by the spelling current in the States is, we sup- pose, a grievance to which Englishmen must now submit.