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.
* * * * *
Art's Friends and Foe!
TATE, WALLACE, AGNEW! Here be three good names,
Friends of true Art, and furtherers of her aims;
Munificence but waits to take sound shape;
Say, shall it be frustrated by--Red Tape?
* * * * *
[Illustration: BUZZY TIME FOR THE MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE.
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