3 DECEMBER 1864, Page 21

Elijah. By "A Layman." (Longman and Co.)—We cannot venture to

say that "the Life of Elijah" is not a fit subject because "A Layman" assures us that "Dr. Macduff (Prophet of Fire) " has pronounced it to be "a Poem, an inspired Epic." But we do say that it requires genius to handle such a subject, and "A Layman" never gets quite up to the level of a good University Prize Poem. Any educated man could turn out such lines as these by the thousand, and so indeed does the author of Elijah.