10 FEBRUARY 1883, Page 25

A History of the English Language and Literature, by Dr.

F. J. Bierbanm (G. Weiss, Heidelberg ; Triihner and Co., London), con- tains a great deal of useful information in a very small compass. Considering that it is the work of a foreigner, we are astotished to see how faithfully and how exhaustively he has treated not only Shakespeare and Milton, but our less-known "metaphysical" poets. The " novelists " and "epistolary writers" are, perhaps, less success- fully treated. The volume contains an account of the liberation of North America, brought down to a very recent date, for it records the death of Longfellow. The list of modern English poets, we ob- serve, includes Mr. Tennyson and Mr. Swinburne, but, if we may trust the index, it ignores Mr. Matthew Arnold.