THE POET OF CRAIGIE HOUSE By Hlldegarde Hawthorne The last
fate of a poet is to be laid in lavender. It is a long way, from the direct impact on his peers to the time when some crumb of him is on every homely table, and it can only be accomplished by a process of dilution. There are those who never properly yield up these genteel fantasies of them.- selves, while others conform almost too easily. LOngfelloW is among the latter ; a kindly, romantic, idyllic figure just suited for the sentimental dream of the Poet, the man who has Beautiful Thoughts. In this book (Appleton, 8s. 0d.) Miss Hawthorne has let herself go inthe good old style. From the sensitive boy to the genial greybeard there is no discordant note ; sweetness is all. The scenery is benevolent, the dialogue is pure (if sometimes unspeakable) and Miss Hawthorne's narrative style is mild and cosy. The book indeed belongs wholeheaitedly to that genre of polite romance which died in England about 1900. The quaint illustrationS are in perfect harmony with the text, and a superbly orchidaccous wrapper completes the illusion that Queen Victoria has been graciously pleased to accept a copy. Nice children, if there are any left, will love this book.
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