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Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1855-12-04 00:00:00

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194

composition ; in a book of travels, unless in the
hands of an exceedingly skilful artist, it is posi-
tively mischievous, and will, we greatly fear, pro-
cure for Mr. Hurlbut's " tall writing" the epithet
of " prose run mad," if indeed it be not success-
ful in earning the title of " drunken prose,"
bestowed by a great critic on the turgid and now
all-but-forgotten lucubrations by Hervey, entitled
"Meditations among the Tombs."

The Poetical Works of Johnson, Parnell, Gray,
and Smollett. With Memoirs, Critical Disser-
tations, and Explanatory Notes, by the Rev.
George Gilfillan. Edinburgh : James Nichol.
Liverpool : Philip and Son.
Among the numerous and praiseworthy at-
tempts which have of late years been originated
for the production and spread of cheap literature
through all ranks of the people, we know of none
more deserving of unqualified commendation than
" Nichol's Library Edition of the British Poets,"
of which series that before us forms the eighteenth
volume, and the concluding one of the third
year's issue. Those eighteen volumes form an
exceedingly handsome set, printed with accuracy
and elegance, on beautiful paper ; and they are in
all respects done up in a manner so tasteful as to
be worthy of the poetry which they embalm,
while they aid in its diffusion. The force and
fulness of this compliment will become more ob-
vious when reference is made to the works in-
cluded in the volumes alluded to. They contain the
poetical works of those Titanic sons of song, Milton
and Thomson, Young and Cowper, Dryden and
Churchill, and Butler ; of the elegant Gray,
Goldsmith, Beattie, and Parnell ; of the sonorous
Johnson and expressive Collins ; of the fanciful
Shenstone and of the reflective Herbert and
Bowles, the didactic Blair, the tasteful Smollett,
and the suggestive Falconer, and whimsical
Wharton ; a body of poetry at once extensive,
rich, and varied, with a text unimpeachable in
accuracy, and an aspect, external and internal,
such as does credit to the press of Ballantyne.
Having said thus much, the language of panegyric
is expended, unless, indeed, we add that the
whole has been published at the incredibly low
price of three annual subscriptions of one guinea
each. That such a series could be published at
such a price, without ruin to the publisher, ap-
peared at the outset impossible ; experience,
however, has proved that the spirited endeavour
of Mr. Nichol . was not beyond the reach of
success, and gladly do we learn that public
patronage has been bestowed with such liberality
on so deserving a project as to warrant and en-
courage its continuance.
Along with the volume just published, the title
of which stands at the head of this notice, Mr.
Nichol has also issued the prospectus of his
fourth year's series. This will, as usual, consist
of six volumes, the first three being devoted to
the poetry of the great Scottish bard, Burns,
together with selections from the writings of his
contemporaries,Alexander Wilson, Hector McNeil,
Robert Tannahill, Richard Gall, and James
Mayne. In the three volumes thus announced
for publication in the first half of 1856, we con-
fess to some misgivings as to the terms " selec-
tions from the writings of his contemporaries ;"
but if we are entitled, as we undoubtedly are, to
judge of the future from our experience of the past,
any apprehension becomes as unnecessary as it
would be illiberal and unjust. Of the three re-
maining volumes for next year, the fourth and
fifth are to comprise the works of Pope, and the
sixth to comprehend the " Poetical Remains of
Henry Kirk White." Thus steadily and substan-
tially does the publisher continue his undertaking
to produce " in superior style, deserving of a place
on the shelves of the best libraries, and offered