CURRENT LITERATURE.
AU -Fellows. By Laurence Housman. (Began Paul, Trench, Trebner, and Co.)—In point of tone, which is as far removed as possible from the jollity that is generally associated with Christ- mas, this little volume—the tone, if not quite the contents, of which may be gathered from the sub-title, " Seven Legends of Lower Redemption "—hardly comes within the category of ordi- nary gift-books. But in point of paper, of fantastic illustrations, and of the undoubtedly earnest feeling which pervades the author's sentiments, even when most morbid, it belongs to that literature of the graver order which ought to be as much identified with the present season as stories of fairies and buccaneers. The prose consists almost exclusively of parables, or fanciful stories of hermits and saints, who illustrate Christian rules and maxims in a way that is certainly calculated to shock ordinary Christian notions. Such, for example, are the stories of the hermit who tends the wounds of a lion, only to discover it killing his son, and of the saint who finds his action in giving a cup of water to a damned soul turn out badly, at least from the theological point of view. Perhaps the best story in this volume is the first, entitled " The Lovely Messengers," which tells how a disgraced girl finds more help for herself and child of shame among asses and steers than among her kinsfolk. Mr. Housman fears that his "insets of verse" which divide his stories may shock " readers who imagine that an assault is meant on things which they hold sacred." This is possible. But the chief objection to Mr. Housman's poetry is its too great abstruseness.
Previous page
