Doron. Poems by Dorothea and Donald °gilt (William Black-
wood and Sons.)—Dorothea has the lion's share of volume, and the result is that it is marked to the fall by that dole us gloom which is the prevailing atmosphere in which poetesses live., How the authors can have the face to say that "many pleasant hours have passed in writing " this volume we do not know. The woes of the disappointed lover may have a pleasing melancholy about them perhaps, but these poems seem to have been written for tombstones and rejected because they are too long. Of the first sixteen only four are not about some- body's demise, and the titles of six begin with " On the death of." Then comes the inevitable allowance of verses on the marriage of the Prince of Wales and the death of Prince Albert. Here is the beginning of a poem called "The English Nation—To Queen Victoria."
"The greatest nation of the earth, In memory of transcendent worth. Of talents, genius rarely seen, Unite with thee, illustrious Queen, In thy most anxious wish to raise A trophy to thy Consort's praise."
The conclusion is that stone or marble are unnecessary, the best memo- rial will be "the tear, the sigh, the yearning thought of days gone by," and "his unspotted name,"—which is perhaps true, but is rather Scotchy. Yet the authors of this staff often write verses descriptive of Scotch scenery of very considerable merit, though not, we think, above the average of good magazine poetry.
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