20 JANUARY 1906, page 17

Books.

COWLEY AND THE METAPHYSICAL POETS.* THE enormous influence of Johnson on English criticism is nowhere better seen than in the general acceptance by later critics of his views on......

Captain John Smith.* If Captain John Smith Had Figured As

the hero of a romance, the world would have condemned the portrait as too grossly improbable for art. For a more incredible character has rarely trod the boards of history. The......

Mr. Augustine Birrell's Essays.* It Is Always Easy, But Not

always comforting, to read Mr. Birrell. When he is writing about books he is commonly delightful, though even here he cannot resist the temptation to "get his knife into"......