THE ISLE OF WIGHT.
series of "Beautiful Books" to which it belongs. Among the pictures we would mention the frontispiece, giving the Needles, Freshwater Bay, and Sandown Bay. The two Chines, Blackgan,g and Shanklin, look to us a little glorified; but this can hardly be called a fault. Who glorified more than Turner ? Mr. Moncrieff's description is, on the whole, adequate to the subject. He tells us a good deal ; but he might perhaps have told us more, about Yarmouth, for instance, of which, by the way, there is a very
pleasing sketch, and about the Oglander family, now, we believe, extinct, but down to the middle of the last century one of the oldest in England. On the other hand, he would have pleased us more if ho had said less about Tennyson. It was certainly not Mr. Moncrieffs business to fill up such gaps as he may suppose to exist in the poet's biography. What he does in this way has a look of pettiness about it, not to use a harsher word. We would suggest that he should read a certain poem to be found on pp. 123-24 of "The Complete Works" (1894). One stanza we
may quote :—
"He gave the people of hie best
His worst he kept, his best he gave.
My Shakespeare's curse on clown and knave
Who will not let his ashes rest "
Previous page
