13 APRIL 1867, Page 21

Descriptive Poems. By John Askham. (F. Warne and Co.)—We should

never have guessed that these poems were written by a work- ing man. They have rather the characteristics of a higher culture, and their fault, if they are not indeed "faultily faultless," is an over- refinement doing away with inequalities by a levelling process. Yet the author has employed his oyes to some purpose, even though he has trusted too implicitly to his ears, and there are images in his verse of which the thoughts and observations are his own, even if the language seems to have come from without.