5 JULY 1902, Page 33

SOME BOOKS OF THE WEEK.

[Under this heading tee notice such Books of ths ussk Si haus nit L.son reserved for review in other forms.] CORONATION Ones.--.Good Words in its "Coronation Number" publishes twelve "odes" received in a competition for prizes offered by that magazine. The winner of the first prize is a Presbyterian minister, Mr. Lauchlan M. Watt, of Alice, whose name is known to the readers of the Spectator; the second and third prizes fell to English clergymen (the third being divided with a lady, writing from New Zealand). Another ode that received the commendation of the judges came from South Africa. The theme was certainly an inspiring one, and it has brought out some ex- cellent work. We are inclined to think that almost all the poems are too long—the great classical models are on a smaller scale— but they reach; on the whole, a high standard. Here is a passage from Mr. Watt's poem. He has been saying that the throne of the true King is upheld by strength, pity, and love, and goes on ;— " Love, too, greatest of angels born of God,

Leaving the throne, to walk where shadow lies, Kissing to joy the tears of darkened eyes, And gathering into song ell saddening cries, And making a triumphing gladness grow where sorrow in darkness trod : Till peace springs near and far, Star merging into star, Till a day like Christ's steals over the midnight bar,

And the tide of a people's contented joy breaks singing around the throne,

Where, in oblivion swathed, as in a shroud, Dead and forgotten shall sink the cruel and proud And tyranny have no name,

And the shaming be crushed with shame.

• And be mown : But the loving and lovely in dream and deed Have love shook into their day.,

And angels of peace their feet shall le."1

By blossoming ways ' No more to bleed.

Great shall that monarch be, Great on the shore, and the sea I

And the nitions bear and Tar Shen see his star, And know that the day of &Omen now II dons, And wait for the rising sun, That bringsth the days to be."

—Coronation Ode, by A. C. Benson, Set to Musk by Eawar1 Eiger (Boosey and Co., 29. 6d.), is a good piece of work, though possibly somewhat over-dominated by the thought of musical

performance. The following is full of spirit and of the power to call up living images in the mind:—

" Britain, ask of thyself, and see that thy sons be strong,

Strong to arise and go, if ever the war-trump peel;

See that thy navies speed, to the sound of the battle-song, Then, when the winds are up, and the shuddering bulwarks reel,

Smite the mountainous wave, and scatter the flying foam, Big with the battle-thunder that echoeth loud and long ;—

See that thy squadrons haste, when loosed are the heap& of hell:—

Then shall the eye Bash fire, and the valorous heart grow light. Under the drifting smoke, and the scream of the flying shell, When the hillside hisses with death,—and never a foe in sight. So shalt thou rest in peace, enthroned in thine island home ;—

Britain, ask of thyself, and see that thy sons be strong 1"