Selections from the Poets: Coleridge. By Andrew Lang. Illus- trated
by Patten Wilson. (Longmans and Co.)—Mr. Lang prefaces the poems by a sketch of Coleridge's life, based " mainly on the patient researches of Mr. James Dykes Campbell." Possibly there is nothing new to be written on this subject, but there is a certain want of sympathy in Mr. Lang's treatment of the poet's life, and his touch is almost too light and graceful. But in saying this we must not forget the pleasant quality of readable- ness now, as always, tobe found in Mr. Lang's work. The poems are well chosen, and one has none of that sense of want which so often lurks in the pages of a book of selections. The illustrations are unequal, but that to "Christabel " of the "Sacristan, who duly pulls the heavy bell," is good, and the " Old Church Tower " in " Frost at Midnight " is a pleasing reminiscence of South Devon. But we wish that Mr. Patten Wilson had not tried to draw the impossible, such as Ruble. Khan's "stately pleasure dome," or the water-snakes, whose beauty the poet's tongue even might snot declare.
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