Poems and Sonnets. By Harriett Steckel'. (Simpkin, Marshall, and Co.)—These
are the thoughts of a refined and cultivated woman,. expressed, for the most part, in pleasing verse. There is little originality and power, but there is often much tenderness and sweetness, as in the verses called " My Pet Name ;" and, amongst others, in many of those on the flowers—on the "Heliotrope," for in- stance ; though here, as in other places, we find a little confusion of thought and metaphor ; wo do not see how the perfume, "mingling With some olden strain," can also "strike through the music shafts of pain "—the italics, of course, are ours—nor do we quite understand what "music shafts of pain" can be ; it is too mixed and intricate a metaphor for us. In the poem called "By Teme "— to which we turned with much hope, born of our own love of that beautiful river— we were disappointed to find no description of it, only the record of a sad memory ; and our poetical sense was offended by the lines,-
" Our kindred spirits were nicely strung, Duetting in perfect tune."
The verses to the Queen, the Prince Imperial, and other great person- ages are a little too forced and ambitious. The idea of the Prince- Imperial's ancrifice of his life for its is, of course, a mistake ; and the Zulus are spoken of with very undeserved bitterness ; but the venge- ance prayed for is a fine and Christian vengeance, and the prayer is finely expressed. There is a very strong tendency to hero-worship in Miss Stockall's temperament ; she speaks, for instance, of Dickens as wearing "the scholar's bays," as well as the emblems of humour and pathos ; and she apostrophises Tennyson as,— "Great Poet! greater Preseher! greatest Sage I"
a really great poet must, no doubt, be a great teacher, but neither- " preacher " nor " sage " seems to us an appropriate epithet for Tennyson. And again, while we can echo the description of Charles Retitle as a,—
" Tearless champion of the gcod and true,"
we cannot quite follow the poetess when she adds,-
" All hail, thou fearless worshipper of truth 2"
—we have always held that Mr. Reads did not stick at a triflo, if he could give more force and vividness to his pictures by a little extra colour. But if there is an exuberance of enthusiasm, there is justifi- cation for it in much love, often expressed, as we have said, with much sweetness and tenderness.
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