CURRENT LITERATURE.
—4-- CHRISTMAS BOOKS.
Enid. By Alfred Tennyson. Illustrated by Gustave Don. (Moxon.) —In respect at least of size and general magnificence of aspect, this is the Prince of the Christmas Books. Much as we admire hi. Dorti's genius, we do not think that the work before us is a favourable specimen of his powers. The figures have little vigour or loveliness, and hardly seem to have life, except indeed in the scone of the "Flight of the Boon Companions of Earl Limour," which is animated enough, but scarcely intelligible, looking more like the fall of banished angels than oven the wildest rush of ordinary men. The person of Enid is always ungracefully rendered. And even to the most uncritical eyes there is an evident want of care in the details ; it would not be easy to find anything more hideous than the group of horses in Enid and Goraint in the Meadow." At the same time, there are great beauties in the book. The shadowy glades of a wood, the battlomented heights of a castle with the sunshine upon them, are among the subjects which M. Dort': treats with great skill and imaginative power. Whether he is a sufficient interpreter of Mr. Tennyson's poetry is another question.
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