Tennyson and" In Memoriam." By Joseph Jacobs. (D. Nutt.)— We
have in this little book a general criticism of Tennyson, and a special study, which is peculiarly careful and minute, of the " In Memoriam." The second part is more valuable than the first. Its elaborately detailed treatment is oftenfull of suggestion. But what are we to say of such a criticism as the following P While acknow- ledging the poet's accurate observation of Nature, the author says, "he is not immaculate ; the songster nightingale is always with him the female, not the male, as it is in Nature ; he was probably misled by the myth of Philomela." "Probably misled "! Was there ever such an absurdity ! That Tennyson should not have known what every schoolboy knows is the most ridicu- lous of suppositions. The " myth of Philomela " .did not mislead him ; it governed him. The error is classical ; it cannot be corrected.—Essays on Tennyson's Idylls of the King. By Harold Littledale. (Macmillan.)—Professor Little- dale examines the sources of the Arthurian Legend, describes its treatment by Sir Thomas Malory, and then, after briefly touching on intermediate authors, criticises in detail the Melts. The work is done in a very painstaking way, and with the sympathetic feeling which industry cannot always command. Special studies of some of the Idylls are :—" The Holy Grail," "The Marriage of Geraint," and " Geraint and Enid."—Gareth and Lynette. By G. C. Macaulay. (Same publisher.)—With these may be mentioned Stales of Robert Browning's Poems, by Frank Walters (Sunday School Union); and A Browning Primer, by Esther Phcebe Defries, with Preface by Dr. F. J. Furnivall (Swan Sonnenschein).
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