20 APRIL 1867, Page 21

The Sorrows of Hypsipyle. By Thomas Ashe. (Bell and Daldy.)—

Mr. Ache has succeeded where so many have failed in catching the spirit of the Greek drama. There is not here the same manifest striving after a certain effect as detracts from the merits of Mr. Matthew Arnold's Merope, nor is there the indifference which some moderns mistake for repose, the stagnation which they take for calm. Mr. Ashe throws himself into the life he pictures for us, but he brings the life nearer to us as well, and his feeling is as conspicuous as his fidelity. The only fault we can find with his verse is a too frequent repetition of phrases, which becomes a mannerism after a while, and is unworthy of such really excellent poetry.