Lonely Hours. Poems by Fanny E. Fisher. Dedicated by permis-
sion to Sir E. B,Lytton, Bart., M.P. (Hodges, Smith, and Co.)—This "little volume written under disadvantages" belongs to a class which criticism cannot tolerate. Some of the poems were written by this lady between eleven and thirteen, and we must ask if everybody is to. publish their school exercises ? It is not the writing mediocre poetry which is blameable, but the publication. If it be said that the personal friends of the writer will be glad to read his book, let him print it for private circulation. To appeal to the public is to demand approbation, and that can only be awarded to books which are good absolutely, not relatively to the writer's opportunities. However, Mrs. Fisher has cus- tom in her favour, and she is certainly by no means the worst of this class of delinquents. The versification is generally very good. Origi- nal thought there is of course none, but the sentiment and expression are unaffected. Why they are all so melancholy Heaven only knows, but they are. It is the peculiarity of small poets that their imagination revels in grave; and farewells, and lonely hours, and desertions, and, such subjects. Mrs. Fisher is no exception to the rule.
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