Father Caswall's hymns are as well known as Father Faber's. Indeed, if we mistake not, many of them are popularly attributed to the departed writer. In the present volume we have a complete collection of the Breviary hymns, in the first place. This is especially valuable as the only one in the language (as far, at least, as we are aware). And the author deserves the more praise for this labor of love, because of the great difficulty of rendering the terse, stiff Latin. Then, secondly, we have “Hymns and Sequences of the Roman Missal”; followed by “Hymns from Various Offices and other Sources.” Thus the translated portion of the volume is quite sufficient to make it worth possessing. The execution, too, is very happy, on the whole. No one who has attempted to translate these hymns himself will insist overmuch on the absence of phrases commonplace or prosaic.
The second portion of the volume, “Original Hymns and Meditative Pieces,” also contains much that entitles it to a place in every household. The devout Catholic, and more especially the convert, will find many things said for him which have come into his mind, but without his being able to express them. Moreover, several pieces turn on topics which are generally supposed themes for the dryest meditation. They are here proved suggestive of true poetry.
The only fault we have to find with Father Caswall's verse is the same that we find with Wordsworth's: the too frequent sacrifice of poetic diction and the use of too many long Latin words. But this defect is unimportant compared with the value of the thoughts and teachings conveyed, and we fervently thank Father Caswall for his contribution to our scanty Catholic poetry.
The Poet at the Breakfast-Table.Boston: James R. Osgood & Co. 1872.
“Once I wrote because my mind was full;
But now I write because I feel it growing dull,”
or,
“I have lived long enough,”
or,
“Poor old man, thou prun'st a rotten tree