3 NOVEMBER 1894, Page 13

Ban and Arriare Ban : a Rally of Fugitive Rhymes.

By Andrew Lang. (Longma,ns,)—We' are always glad to see Mr. Lang's

name on the title-page of a volume, at the foot of an article, or the head of a newspaper column. These " fugitives " have appeared on the field before ; Mr. Lang assembles them again, and, so to speak, compels them to face the public again. We are very much obliged to him. There is always a certain finish about even his slightest work; at times he reaches a high level of literary excellence. "How They Held the Base for King James" is a spirited ballad ; and there is a quite admirable pathos in the "Three Portraits of Prince Charles." From this latter we quote the concluding lines on Sir Walter Scott's Visit to Italy :—

" Little the Luerino Lake

Or Tivoli said to him,

13o&roo did the mummies wake

Of the far•off years and dim, For he stood by Avernus' shore, But he dreamed of a Northern glen,

And he murmured over and o'er

' For Charlie and his men.'

And his feet to death that went, Crept forth to St. Peter's shrine, And the latest Minstrel bent O'er the last of the Stuart line,"