O! that thou wert.

Dante is certainly rude, but Gemma is dreadful. The play is well meant
but it is lumbering and heavy, and the blank verse has absolutely no
merit.

Father O'Flynn and Other Irish Lyrics, by Mr. A. P. Graves, is a
collection of poems in the style of Lover. Most of them are written in
dialect, and, for the benefit of English readers, notes are appended in
which the uninitiated are informed that 'brogue' means a boot, that
'mavourneen' means my dear, and that 'astore' is a term of affection.
Here is a specimen of Mr. Graves's work:

'Have you e'er a new song,
My Limerick Poet,
To help us along
Wid this terrible boat,
Away over to Tork?'
'Arrah I understand;
For all of your work,
'Twill tighten you, boys,
To cargo that sand
To the overside strand,
Wid the current so strong
Unless you've a song--
A song to lighten and brighten you, boys. . . . '

It is a very dreary production and does not 'lighten and brighten' us a
bit. The whole volume should be called The Lucubrations of a Stage
Irishman.

The anonymous author of The Judgment of the City is a sort of bad Blake.
So at least his prelude seems to suggest:

Time, the old viol-player,
For ever thrills his ancient strings
With the flying bow of Fate, and thence
Much discord, but some music, brings.

His ancient strings are truth,
Love, hate, hope, fear;
And his choicest melody
Is the song of the faithful seer.

As he progresses, however, he develops into a kind of inferior Clough and
writes heavy hexameters upon modern subjects:

Here for a moment stands in the light at the door of a playhouse,
One who is dignified, masterly, hard in the pride of his station;
Here too, the stateliest of matrons, sour in the pride of her station;
With them their daughter, sad-faced and listless, half-crushed to
their likeness.

He has every form of sincerity except the sincerity of the artist, a
defect that he shares with most of our popular writers.

(1) Love's Widowhood and Other Poems. By Alfred Austin. (Macmillan and
Co.)

(2) Poems and Translations. By W. J. Linton. (Nimmo.)

(3) Dante: a Dramatic Poem. By Heloise Durant. (Kegan Paul.)

(4) Father O'Flynn and Other Irish Lyrics. By A. P. Graves. (Swan
Sonnenschein and Co.)

(5) The Judgment of the City and Other Poems. (Swan Sonnenschein and
Co.)

MR. SWINBURNE'S LAST VOLUME

(Pall Mall Gazette, June 27, 1889.)

Mr. Swinburne once set his age on fire by a volume of very perfect and
very poisonous poetry. Then he became revolutionary and pantheistic, and
cried out against those that sit in high places both in heaven and on
earth. Then he invented Marie Stuart and laid upon us the heavy burden
of Bothwell. Then he retired to the nursery and wrote poems about
children of a somewhat over-subtle character. He is now extremely
patriotic, and manages to combine with his patriotism a strong affection
for the Tory party. He has always been a great poet.