23 APRIL 1864, Page 21

Voices from the Hearth, a Collection of Verses. By Isidore

G. Ascher, B.C.L., Advocate, Montreal. (Montreal, John LovelL)—If true poems, as the authorasserts, ought to thrill and arrest the mind, we think " Voices from the Hearth" cannot stand so severe a test. But verses which show true feeling and are cultivated in expression are true poetry, and are always worth writing, even if not worth reading. These qualities Mr. Ascher's verses have, but lyrical poems must be something more than this to live. They want terseness of expression and intensity of feeling, and in these qualities he is deficient.