29 JANUARY 1910, Page 46

A Song of the English. By Rudyard Kipling. With Illustra-

tions by W. Heath Robinson. (Hodder and Stoughton. 15s. net.)— This poet perhaps is as difficult to illustrate as Browning. Mr. Robinson has tried hard to keep close to his text, but he seems unhappy in reflecting the writer's union of symbolism and reality. Mr. Kipling's waves are real ; Mr. Robinson's are decorative con- ventions, mannered rather than elemental. Perhaps the limita- tions of the artist are most strongly to be observed in the series of the cities. A lady in red sitting on a cloud over a rather tamely drawn view of Quebec fails to convey either poetry or symbolism ; nor is the figure holding a sheaf of corn as tall as herself symbolically over Sydney any more satisfactory.