Sclina's Stcny : a Poem. By the Author of "The
White Cross and Dove of Pearls." (Hodder and Stoughton.)—This is a tale of unhappy love, written in verse which sometimes rises into real eloquence and force. Here and there are strange blemishes. On the second page we find the phrase " pure and veined brow," a piece of realism quite inap- propriate to the context, not to speak of the doubtfulness of the word
itself. Later on, we find "my frero " for " my brother," simply to Bait a metrical convenience, and the colloquialism, not to say vulgarism of " Lady C—," introduced for no better reason. The story is the re-
petition, without any novelty of effect, of one that has been told count- less times. The characters have little life or nature about them. But the author has sometimes a glowing rhetoric at her command which re- minds us of the great poem of " Aurora Leigh," though, indeed, the preface modestly deprecates the comparison. There is no doubt, for instance, about the model that has been followed here : —
"Child-innocent And woman-weak! world-fond and cold of heart! A shallow brook, but pure for such a course As now was cut out for you. Could she not, Your own religious mother, leave you free To glide and babble on your own sweet way, Alive, though shallow, rather than insist On forcing you canal-wise in such straits, That, being a cofflued river, you can sail None but cant-boats, who may crawl their way Over your stiffened, corpse-like face, as worms Over the face of Death ?"
This indeed adds extravagance to the original, and is not a happy specimen of the author, who would do well to undertake less dangerous tasks.
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