Jephthah's Daughter. By Charles Heavysege. (Sampson Low, Son, and Marston
; Dawson Brothers, of Montreal.)--These are good verses, but the subject seems to us quite unsuited for epic treatment. The motives el Jephthah in attempting to conciliate God by such a vow, the state of society in which it was natural or even possible that it should be kept, are unintelligible to this stage of civilization, and the more the story is expanded and detailed the more unintelligible it becomes. Told as the author of the book of Judges tells it, its mystery and pathos touch the imagination of the world. Rob it of its mystery and it becomes a barbarism. Tephthah's wife adds nothing to the tradition that is worth adding. The sonnets at the end of the volume are good, and oven the longer poem has much that is meritorious in its composition.
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