We are glad to see that a second and enlarged
edition has been issued of The Man of the Woods, and other Poems (Black, Edinburgh), by William McDowell, author of, perhaps, the best and fullest local history that Scotland has produced. Mr. McDowell is no pretentious poet, and this volume is essentially composed of pieces written in the leisure of a busy life. Yet the longer poems, such as The Man of the Woods and The Martyr of Erromanga, are full of tenderness, love of nature, patriotism, and an unaffected piety, with just that soupcon of the old Covenanting spirit that is required to make the charm of the whole firm and good. We confess, however, that we like Mr. McDowell best, as, indeed, we like all Scotch poets, from the days of Burns onwards, when he writes in the Scotch language, as in his hearty and homely Ingleside Entertainment. Some of his renderings of Border and other stories and legends are very happy, being written in a direct and simple style. Mr. McDowell has now done his very best to immortalise his native Dumfries and its vicinity, both in prose and verse.
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