CURRENT LITERATURE.
Genius and Art. By Henry Smith. (Iredale, Torquay.)—This pretentious work, whose full title space forbids us quoting, takes the form of a series of letters, after every one of which Mr. Smith's name is given in facsimile. The style and tenor of Mr. Smith's remarks are sufficiently indicated by such sentences as, "Modern literature is mental poison ; it is death to the intellect." It is all in the same bombastic, often incoherent and always dis- connected fashion. Why, having uttered this sweeping state- ment, Mr. Smith should think fit to sit down and prepare some more " mental poison," we cannot say. It is of course quite innocuous, and Mr. Smith has therefore committed no crime. He has applied the adjective "common-sense" to some of his remarks, as if he feared that readers might not otherwise take them seriously. As a matter of fact., they are so obviously common-sense as to be commonplace. We cannot, being possessed of common-sense, take Mr. Smith seriously, though we hope,from purely philanthropic motives, that, as far as his own work is con- cerned, readers will take to heart his commination of modern literature.
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