Poems. By Claude Lake. (Alfred W. Bonnett.)—After Mr. S win-
burne's hymn to Mazzini, it is not to be wondered at if other admirers of the prophet break into verse, but the prophet ought to persuade thetrt not to print it. Mr. Lake is not a Swinburne, and his fervour is rather ridiculous. Mazzini is alternately a torrent and Mr. Lake a bird perched on a rock in the spray; a sower, and Mr. Lako the field ; a breeze, and Mr. Lake the Haan harp; a flower, a leaf, a cloud, a ray of the sun, and Mr. Lake the pool in which they are reflected ; a sky, and Mr. Lake the flower into which it sheds dew ; a horn, and Mr. Lake the echo ; an organ in a cathedral, and Mr. Lake the aisles ; an eagle, and Mr. Lake Ganymede. We are bewildered by all these transformations, and at the end of the volume.we do not know who is what. If the effect on the prophet and the poet is the same, they might almost change places and names. The one would appear as Joseph Lakkini, and the other as Claude Maze, which would certainly be significant of the con- fusion of his poems.
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