28 MARCH 1863, Page 21

CURRENT LITERATURE.

Poems, from the Dawn of British Literature to the Year 1669. (Edin- burgh : Maclaron.)--This pretty little volume consists of a collection of short poems, all of which are of a serious, if not of a distinctly reli- gious, character, and are the works of writers who "have stood the test and strain of time." The editor has made no extracts from the writings of Shakespeare, Milton, Herbert, or H. Vaughan, thinking that the works of these poets are too valuable to be "broken into fragments." This expression of his opinion tends, perhaps, to render admission into his volume somewhat less of a compliment than we might, at first sight, be inclined to suppose.