4 JUNE 1881, Page 22

Alfred Tennyson : H is Life and Works. By Walter E.

Waco. (Mac- niven and Wallace.)—If it is right to produce a book of this kind at all, Mr. Waco may be allowed the credit of having performed his task in a satisfactory manner. Ho shows good-tasto throughout, so far as it can be shown where, for the most part, it would have been

bettor taste to have said nothing at all. It is pretty well known that Mr. Tennyson does not like to have personal details about himself given to the public, and we cannot help fooling that this is a wish which should be respected, while at the same time the interest of the public in such information is not in itself blameworthy. But really, we ought to be satisfied with what a writer chooses to show us of himself, and not to go an inch beyond what he is perfectly willing to toll us.