ALGERNON CHARLES SWINBURNE.
Algernon Charles Swinburne : a Critical Study. By Edward Thomas. (Martin Seeker. 7s. 6d. net.)—Mr. Thomas's study upon Swinburne is of the class which it is usual to describe as " suggestive and stimulating." That is to say, it is pleasantly written and not difficult to read, but is not distinguished for closeness of thought or for clarity of arrangement. Throughout his ten chapters the author throws out more or less disconnected apophthegms as to what Swinburne was or was not, but nowhere does ho give anything moro than a superficial estimate of the reasons why Swinburne's verse is admirable or the reverse. Mr. Thomas is probably much devoted to Swinburne, and perhaps for that very reason he has expunged from his book every sign of enthusiasm. He is deliberately just in his estimate, and one feels that on every page he is trying to judge the poet from the cold and impartial standpoint of posterity. This judicial air, in a critic of no great profundity, is a little irritating, and drives the reader into a longing for some of Swinburne's own enthusiastic pre- judice. Mr. Thomas's central position (though, for reasons which can be gathered from what we have said, it is not easy to discover) appears to be the usual one that the meaning of Swinburne's poems is negligible and that the sound alone is of importance. " Perhaps the greatest of his triumphs is in keeping up a stately solemn play of words not unrelated to the object suggested by his title and commencement, but more closely related to rhymes, and yet in the end giving a compact and powerful impression." Does this really give a satisfactory explanation of (to take a single instance) "The Triumph of Time" ? But lovers of Swinburne will do well to turn to Mr. Thomas's pages for a further view of this and of the many other inquiries which ho stimulates and suggests. On page 80 will be found a strange misquotation of the last line of "Laus Veneris " :—
"Until God loosen over sea and land
The thunder and the trumpets of the night."
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