CURRENT LITERATURE.
GIFT-BOOKS.
Epiihalamium. By Mary Matthews Barnes. With Drawings by Dora Wheeler. (G. P. Putnam's Sons.)—This "Wedding Hymn," to give the less ambitions title to be seen on the cover, is a fair, but not more than a fair, piece of verse, rather too magnificent in its invocation of all the powers of Nature in calling down blessings on the bride. The drawings are unequal ; if all were as good as the first, we could speak more highly of them. Generally, we think Miss Wheeler's figures are better than her faces.—The Wreath, and other Pastorals. Illustrated by Tring Pearce. (Marcus Ward and Co.)—Here we have for verse such established favourites as, "My shepherd, tell me, have you seen My Flora pass this way F" and "Once I loved a maiden fair." These, then, at least are sure to please. And the illustrations are not unworthy. The " friend " in whose heart the poet found his song "from beginning to end," is a lady with a costume, graceful indeed, but much older than the poem. To the other pictures we have no exception to take.
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