23 JANUARY 1864, Page 23

Songs of God and Nature. Edited by David Page, F.R.S.E.,

F.G.S. (W. P. Nimmo.)—The object of the compiler was, as he tells us, "to inculcate through the medium of poetry that deep and reverential love towards God and nature which lies at the foundation of all true religion." In carrying out this task he lute scrupulously excluded all poems of a doctrinal or sectarian spirit; and we fear the result is that the collection is rather tame and colourless. Cowper, and Pringle, and Hancox, and Heber, and Langhorne are not stimulating poets. One good point in the collection is that the American poets Bryant and Sigonrney are frequently quoted, for these writers are, perhaps, hardly as well known in this country as they deserve to be.