A Mediwval Garland. By Madame James Darmesteter. Translated into English
by May Tomlinson. (Lawrence and Bullen )—This is an excellent translation of Marguerites the Temps Passé. No doubt the stories were easy to translate, for the French in which they were originally written had a quaint, and even English, flavour about it. But as they stand now they have the rare merit of not suggesting translation at all, and might be a clever English imitation of the tone of the old chroni- cles. The stories in themselves vary in charm and success. In some of them the middle-age flavour does not go beyond a pretty affectation, and modern sentiment too often steps in to spoil all. This, we think, is the case with "The Countess of Datumartin," and in a certain degree with "The Clove Carnation," and even with "Philip the Cat." The best in the book, to our fancy, is "The Ballads of the Dauphine," where the genius and the sorrows of Louis XL's first wife, Margaret of Scotland, are painted with wonderful intuition. " Alipz," powerful as it is, seems too painful and ugly to deserve a place in the Garland. A flower should have some beauty to justify its name. But the whole book is unquestionably the work of a poet, and the trans- lator has done a kindness to those who cannot read the original. We may add that it is very prettily got up, and that the binding, on examination, suggests that we are not alone in our admiration of Madame la Dauphine Marguerite.
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