SHORT NOTICES OF BOOKS. 
1.35 
In the lines we have quoted Nature is personified and given an independent 
existence, as is not unusual with poets ; but there is another poetical mode of 
dealing with natural objects which appeals more to many of us — the manner in 
which the sights and sounds, perhaps most of all the perfumes, of nature’s giving, 
are associated with some of the most dearly cherished memories of our lives, and 
have the power to reproduce in a moment long-past scenes and to evoke the feelings 
that moved us then. A good example may be found in the following favourite 
passage of ours from W. W. Storey’s Graffiiti d' Jtalia (the quotation is from 
memory): — 
“ The lilac bush is in blossom, 
It hath the balmy smell 
Of that dear delicious summer 
Of love’s first miracle. 
I feel, as I breathe its fragrance, 
The old enchanting pain, 
The sweet insatiate longing 
Thrill through my heart and brain.” 
A very similar poem, “ The Lilac Tree,” is to be found among the “ Songs of 
Love,” which form a large part of Lady Lindsay’s book. A similar thought is 
expressed in “ Lavender,” p. 84 : — 
“’Twas sweet, aye, sweet, from many things, 
But, (sweeter than all) with scent 
Of long past years, and laughter and tears : 
It to me was redolent.” 
There is a well-conceived contrast between the impassioned self-surrender of 
“ Her Songs ” in “ Love’s Litany,” “ A Woman’s Pleading,” Sic., and the colder 
and more philosophic affection which in “ His Songs ” gives the sage but surely 
unwelcome advice 
“ Youth and joy last not for ever, 
When from golden days you sever ; 
Dearest, stay not to regret them — 
Sweet, forget them ! ” 
We must apologise to the authoress for mutilating her poems by these short 
extracts, which by no means give a true idea of the real beauty of her book. 
Doubtless many of our readers are already acquainted with “ The Child Blower,” 
which appeared in Atalanta, and “The Last Letter,” which appeared in Mac- 
millan's Magazine. Both of them are contained in the present volume, with 
several others of the same class. They are songs of the heart — direct, simple and 
pathetic, and utterly free from the absurd straining after “ intensity,” which makes 
so many verses of the present day much more likely to cause amused laughter 
than the tears they make such desperate efforts to produce. 
We can cordially recommend this beautifully printed and tastefully bound little 
volume for a place in the library of the nature-lover or the knapsack of the summer 
rambler. We can hardly give a better wish to any of our readers than that they 
may become possessors of Lady Lindsay’s book, and obtain from it as much 
pleasure as it has given to the writer of this review. 
SHORT NOTICES OF BOOKS. 
In' Father Perry, the Jesuit Astronomer (London : Catholic Truth Society), 
one of his pupils, the Rev. A. L. Cortie, presents us with an interesting and 
readable sketch of one who appears to have been as amiable in his private life as 
he was eminent in science, and who died at sea, seventy miles from Pembara, 
at Christmas time. Mr. Cortie reminds us that astronomy has been a favourite 
science with the Jesuits, and that Father Perry was but one among a number of 
astronomers, the latest of whom were De Vico and Secchi, with whom the 
Society is to be credited. Whether in the playground at Stonyhurst, in the 
