27 MAY 1893, Page 25

in the" Golden Treasury " Series. It may be hoped

that it will now have a still wider circulation. Cowper has several distinguished rivals in the art of letter-writing, but for humour, for pathos, for spontaneity, and for the revelation of a nature "finely touched," he is excelled by none. True poet though he be, there are some dreary wastes to traverse in Cowper's verse ; but in this selection of the letters every step of the road opens up some fresh charm. The poet's epistolary style is perfect ; it is wholly free from verbiage, from effort, and from tricks of rhetoric. A better com- panion than this little book for a solitary walk in the country it would be difficult to find.