_Kentish Lyrics : Sacred Rural, and Miscellaneous. By Benjamin Gough.
(Honlston and Wright.)—This volume ought to be weeded, for the majority of the poems in it fall below the level attained by the few, and these few could be judged more accurately if they were placed by themselves. We have marked twelve pieces, most of them in the East part, which show decided merit, merit of a kind which ought to be encouraged, and might be further cultivated. But pruning is wanted,as well as weeding. Mr. Gough ought to reject every poem which is net up to the mark of his " Morning," "The Woodland Church," "A Sea- Side Calm," and " Rowing up the River." He ought to reject lines even in these. He ought to cut out such rhymes as hymn and stream, stir and more, distress and grace, shaking and shaking. By imposing such a task on himself, he would find that he gave his friends a better means of forming an opinion upon his merits, and of remembering, instead of reading.
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