The Children's Garland, from the Best Poets. Selected and arranged
by Coventry Patmore. " Golden Treasury Series." (Mac- millan and Co.)-1 volume that has been popular for thirty years does not call for criticism. The Children's Garland has passed through several editions, and has doubtless made many a young reader feel the glow of a first love for poetry. Mr. Patmore is right in choosing poems that are often above the full under- standing of a child. If a boy or girl be blest with that love of verse which when matured is one of the most soothing pleasures of life, the music will win his ear, and the meaning grow with his growth. There are in this selection, as there must be in all, omissions for which a critic familiar with the good things bequeathed to us by English poets may find it difficult to account, and there are poems written of late years which he would gladly see among the old favourites. But Mr. Patmore answers the first objection sufficiently, perhaps, by saying that "the test applied in every instance, in the work of selection, has been that of having actually pleased intelligent children ; " and if no use has been made of recent verse, it must be remembered that the editor's space is limited, while the golden treasury of song fitted for youthful ears and hearts is not readily exhausted. The Garland should have a place in every house- hold where the voices of children are heard.
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