Leading Articles in the Reviews. 



68=; 



THE POET-LAUREATE OF JAPAN. 



We have seen how the art of writhig verses is 

 cultivated at the Court in Japan and how a 

 Poetical Bureau has been created to keep a 

 record of the poems written by members of the 

 Imperial Family and to arrange the poetry com- 

 petitions. The head of this bureau is Baron 

 Takasaki, the poet-laureate of Japan. In the 

 November number of the Open Court transla- 

 tions, by Arthur Lloyd, of some of his poems 

 are published. The following lines, entitled " A 

 Friendly Greeting," were addressed to Lord 

 Tennyson, wliile he was Governor of Australia : 



Mountains and seas, with bars material, keep 



Our little lives asunder, as themselves 



Are kept apart and distant ; but bej'ond 



The mountains and deep seas, the world of soul 



Unites our hearts with pleasure. 



It is good 

 To have a friend that speaks a different tongue. 

 And lives with people of another sphere, 

 With different thoughts from those that I have known, 

 And yet a friend. 



When shall I meet again 

 My peerless friend, and grasp his great good hand. 

 And speak once more with him as friend to friend? 

 I know not when, but still I long and wait. 



THE NEGRO SINGER. 



The Century Magazine prints two poems by 

 James D. Corrothers on the singer of the negro 

 race, Paul Laurence Dunbar. Both are equally 

 beautiful, and both show the regard felt for 

 Dunbar by their writer. We give the shorter of 

 the two : — 



O'er all my song the image of a face 



Lieth, like shadow on the wild, sweet flowers. 

 The dream, the ecstasy that prompts my powers : 



The golden lyre's delights bring little grace 



To bless the singer of a lowly race. 



Long hath this mocked me; aye, in marvellous hours, 

 When Hera's gardens gleamed, or Cynthia's bowers, 



Or Hope's red pylons, in their far, hushed place ! 



But I shall dig me deeper to the Gold : 



Fetch water, dripping, over desert miles. 

 From clear Nyanzas and mysterious Niles 



Of love, and sing, nor one kind act withhold. 

 So shall men know me, and remember long, 

 Nor my dark face dishonour any song. 



A THIRD, with Charles Dickens and Robert 

 Browning — whose centenary ought to be cele- 

 brated this year — is declared by W. R. Bungav, 

 in the Westminster Review, to be Sir George 

 Grey, " a man worthy to be ranked among the 

 greatest of his contemporaries, and one to 

 whom the Australasian colonies and South 

 Africa owe much of their prosperity and stability 

 to-day." 



WAIL FROM RICHARD 

 MIDDLETON. 



The English Review publishes one of the last 

 poems written by the late Richard Middleton 

 before his tragic death. It is entitled " The Poet 

 and his Dead." The first three stanzas may be 

 quoted : — 



I've lit my tall, white candles and placed them by 



the bed. 

 Two by her little dancing feet, two by her nodding 



head ; 

 Ah, feet that dance not, eyes that see not, Love for 



ever dead ! 



I've picked my tall, white lilies and lined them by 



her side, 

 In either hand a lily droops, a lily for my bride ; 

 She cannot feel them, no, nor see them, they watch 



her open-eyed. 



And all the love God gave me, to spend in knightly 



quests, 

 In pomp and pride of living, with her, with her, it 



rests, 

 In her silent lips and quiet eyes and the stillness of 



her breasts. 



THE SIMPLE OF HEART. 



The Oxford and Camhridge Review publishes 

 five stanzas by Mr. Charles Bewley, of which 

 the first and third are here quoted : — ■ 



Somewhere beyond the borders 



Of East and of West, 

 There lies a happy country 



Of hearts at rest : 

 The sun shines gaily there. 



And glad winds sing, 

 And in that far country 



A simple man is king. 



For all men are equal, 



And no man is first, 

 The rich man with the poor man, 



The best with the worst : 

 All toil together. 



And all take their ease. 

 Laughing and drinking 



In the shade of the trees. 



Of Australia, the R&und Table says, " Pro- 

 bably in no country in the world do the geneial 

 mass of the employed work for fewer hours or 

 get more pay and more wages. Labour in Aus- 

 tralia has fought and won many battles, and is 

 now enjoying the fruits of its victories." The 

 writer acknowledges the many solid advantages 

 Ihe Labour Party has over its opponents. These 

 latter, divided among tliemselves, liave no 

 definite policy in common excepting the negative 

 one of opposition to Labotir, wliich does not 

 rou.se popular cnlliusiasm. 



