OUR BOOKING-OFFICE.
Poet and Prophet are nearly allied. Mr. ALFRED AUSTIN is an illustration of this, in his recently published English Lyrics (MACMILLAN) all of which he must have written in utter ignorance of the doings of the Chairman of the County Council. Yet, hath the Prophetic Poet these lines:—
"Primrose, why do you pass away?"
And the Primrose's return:
"Nay, rather, why should we longer stay?"
But the Conservative bias of the Poet is shown in the next line:
"We are not needed," &c.
The commencement of the poem, however, as here quoted, is evidently an inspiration for which the Poet was not responsible. It is a charming little volume of charming verse. It is good poetic wine, which needs not the bush provided by Mr. WILLIAM WATSON in the shape of a thickset introduction. What, asks W.W., is the attitude of ALFRED AUSTIN towards Nature? This recalls a well-known scene in Nicholas Nickleby—"She's a rum 'un, is Natur'," said Mr. Squeers. "She is a holy thing, Sir," remarked Mr. Snawley. "Natur'," said Mr. Squeers, solemnly, "is more easier conceived than described. Oh, what a blessed thing, Sir, to be in a state of natur'!" And these observations of Messrs. Snawley and Squeers pretty accurately sum up all that the ingenious WILLIAM WATSON has to say about Natur' and ALFRED AUSTIN. The moral of which lies in the application of it, which is,—skip the preface, and make plunge into the poetry.
A good deal has been written in olden time and of late about the Oberammergau Passion Play. Nothing has been better done than the work by Mr. EDWARD R. RUSSELL, formerly M.P. for Glasgae, who visited Oberammergau this year. His account is instinct with keen criticism, fine feeling, and reasoning reverence. Moreover, whilst other works are padded out into bulky volumes, he says all that need be said in fifteen pages of a pleasantly-printed booklet—price sixpence. It is a reprint from letters which the errant Editor contributed to his journal, the Liverpool Daily Post, at the sign of which copies may be had. THE BARON DE BOOK-WORMS & Co.