River Songs. By Arthur Dillon. Illustrated by Margery May. (Kagan
Paul, Trench, and Co.)—There is some really fine verse in this volume, though the author's feeling for rhythm seems uncertain. He has caught, too, something of the spirit of the legends which he tells, though the framework in which they are set is somewlaSt clumsily contrived. The fancy of their being related by holly-bashes and drops of water comes perilously near to the grotesque. Still, Mr. Dillon has imagination and power of expression, and can give, as in the description of the three homes which his wandering mariners visit—"The Home of Revel," "The Home of Sleep," and "The Home of Pain "—distinct and impressive pictures. For quotation, however, we may find a more suitable passage in the last of these Ricer Bongs:— " Let the wind be roaring his loudest, or sunk in death-like swoon, Still the Ocean, the changeless lover, follows the changeful moon ; But she above in the night-time unmoved looks down on he love, Like a god and less than human, as she sits on her throne above. And now she watches his yearning, and now she hides away, And turns her bright face from him that worships the Lord of Day. But, seen or unseen, he loves her, and follows her round the world, And vainly he stretches towards her, with his silvery looks and curled, And his great heart moves within him, and he heaves a mighty sigh; And thus, for ever and ever, he worships his Queen on high."
The shorter poems seem inferior to the more sustained efforts. There is spirit in Miss M. May's illustrations, bat the drawing is occa- sionally questionable,—witness the calves, in that which faces p. 63.
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