24 NOVEMBER 1883, Page 26

The Book of Psalms in Metre. Revised by David 31`Laren.

(David Douglas, Edinburgh.)—These are the Psalms "according to the version approved by the Church of Scotland." Mr. M`Laren has, he tells us in his preface, made "an attempt to remove from a noble version some of its greatest blemishes, without interfering with its majesty, or straining too much after mere elegance." We must confess to being unable to see the merits of the version. People born south of the Tweed very seldom can see them. Its metrical form, such as it is, may make it useful for singing ; if so, it had surely better stand as it is ; the kind of revision which Mr. 1PLaren or, indeed, any one else, can give, can be of no real use.