North British Review. March, 1865. (Edmonston and Douglas)— Rather a
heavy number. A notice of the late Mr. Leech, written by a sincere admirer, is perhaps the best paper, but its writer has the great advantage of reviving some of Leech's cuts to illustrate his criticism. Perhaps the most astonishing part of the essay after all is the list of books which he illustrated—forty-nine in number, and one of them, Punch, for twenty-four years—and after all it is not, we believe, com- plete. There are also good papers on Mr. Bryce's holy Roman Empire and Mr. Matthew Arnold's Essays. The latter does justice to perhaps the first literary critic of the day, and even in censuring his tendency to arrogance admits that it has "we know not what curious charm." Precisely for this reason we regret that Mr. Arnold is allowing himself to be lectured out of it. He has thrown off the restraint which marked his censure formerly, and replaced it by a rather forced though effective banter, which is really just as arrogant, and savours of affectation—a sin against taste. Rather ponderous papers on Spain and University tests contain a good deal of information and little else.
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