Of illustrated editions of English classics we have :—The Minor
Poems of John Milton. Illustrated and decorated by A. Garth Tones. (G. Bell and Sons.)—The illustrations are, to our mind, curiously varied in merit. Sometimes they have something of Albert Darer about them, and sometimes they remind us of Mr. Aubrey Beardsley when he was not in his sanest mood. Let any one compare " Manoah " and " Samson and the Officer" with "Sabrina Fair."—We may say much the same about English Lyrics from Spenser to Milton, with illustrations by Robert Anning Bell (same publishers), only that there are no such extremes. We wish that Mr. Bell would always give us as pretty faces as the left-hand figure on p. 189. Very likely he considers this to be one of his least meritorious and most conventional efforts.— The Vicar of Wakefield, by Oliver Goldsmith, illustrated by H. M. Paget (Ernest Nister) is a prettily illustrated book with the pictures that used to please us in the Academy exhibitions of thirty years ago. We must say that this smooth paper is not an agreeable medium.—The Diverting History of John Gilpin. By William Cowper. Illustrated by Chas. E. Brock. (J. M. Dent and Co.)—These are as good illustrations of their kind as we have lately seen. They are full of vigour, and the fun stops just as much short of extravagance as it should. Mr. Ernest Rhys surely goes a little too far in what he says of the "pieties" of Cowper's friends, the Unwins and John Newton.
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