CURRENT LITERATURE.
Hymns and Other Poetry of the Latin Church. Translated by D. T. Morgan. (Rivingtons.)—Mr. D. T. Morgan, who has long taken an interest in Anglican hymnology, and some of whose work appears n the last edition of " Hymns, Ancient and Modern," publishes this volume, many of the selections in which now for the first time appear in an English form. Mr. Morgan has chosen to depart widely from the original metres, and has produced his translations in a variety of measures which, in spite of the objections of ecclesiastical purists, we think considerably to enhance the attractiveness of the volume for the general reader. The old monkish metres, however well adapted they may have been for the sing-song recitations which constituted the orthodox Church music of their day, are to our ears exceedingly monotonous, and partake of a " doggrel" character which it is very undesirable to reproduce in a translated version. We -can, therefore, see no cause to regret that Mr. Morgan, while follow- ing the matter of his originals with great care and accuracy, has ventured to place them before the public in the eminently readable form which he adopts. We would, however, suggest, in view of the difficulty of referring to the works of such writers as Adam de S. Victor and others from whom these selections are made, that the addition of the original hymns in the form of an appendix would increase the interest of the work to many readers ; while, by the facilities afforded for collation, it could only increase the estimation of Mr. Morgan's excellent work.
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