him is absurd.  He is not a poet.  Mr. Dobson, upon the other hand, has produced work that is absolutely classical in its exquisite beauty of form.  Nothing more artistically perfect in its way than the Lines to a Greek Girl has been written in our time.  This little poem will be remembered in literature as long as Thyrsis is remembered, and Thyrsis will never be forgotten.  Both have that note of distinction that is so rare in these days of violence, exaggeration and rhetoric.  Of course, to suggest, as Mr. Matthews does, that Mr. Dobson’s poems belong to ‘the literature of power’ is ridiculous.  Power is not their aim, nor is it their effect.  They have other qualities, and in their own delicately limited sphere they have no contemporary rivals; they have none even second to them.  However, Mr. Matthews is quite undaunted and tries to drag poor Mr. Locker out of Piccadilly, where he was really quite in his element, and to set him on Parnassus where he has no right to be and where he would not claim to be.  He praises his work with the recklessness of an eloquent auctioneer.  These very commonplace and slightly vulgar lines on A Human Skull: 

   It may have held (to shoot some random shots)
      Thy brains, Eliza Fry! or Baron Byron’s;
   The wits of Nelly Gwynne or Doctor Watts—­
      Two quoted bards.  Two philanthropic sirens.

   But this, I trust, is clearly understood,
      If man or woman, if adored or hated—­
   Whoever own’d this Skull was not so good
      Nor quite so bad as many may have stated;

are considered by him to be ‘sportive and brightsome’ and full of ‘playful humor,’ and ’two things especially are to be noted in them—­individuality and directness of expression.’  Individuality and directness of expression!  We wonder what Mr. Matthews thinks these words mean.

Unfortunate Mr. Locker with his uncouth American admirer!  How he must blush to read these heavy panegyrics!  Indeed, Mr. Matthews himself has at least one fit of remorse for his attempt to class Mr. Locker’s work with the work of Mr. Austin Dobson, but like most fits of remorse it leads to nothing.  On the very next page we have the complaint that Mr. Dobson’s verse has not ‘the condensed clearness’ and the ‘incisive vigor’ of Mr. Locker’s.  Mr. Matthews should confine himself to his clever journalistic articles on Euchre, Poker, bad French and old jokes.  On these subjects he can, to use an expression of his own, ‘write funny.’  He ‘writes funny,’ too, upon literature, but the fun is not quite so amusing.

Pen and Ink:  Papers on Subjects of More or Less Importance.  By Brander Matthews. (Longmans, Green and Co.)

SOME LITERARY NOTES—­III

(Woman’s World, March 1889.)