Thomas Gray's Letters.

Small, Maynard & Company have just published a volume of the letters of Thomas Gray, selected, with a biographical introduction and such notes as are necessary, by H.M. Rideout '99.

Early in the introduction, Mr. Rideout says happily that "whether or not Gray was 'a poet fallen on an age of prose,' he was beyond doubt a great letter writer fallen on the great age of letter-writing." Indeed Gray has been called the greatest of English letter writers. This and the fact that hitherto his letters have been accessable only in Mr. Gosse's inaccurate edition of Gray's complete works would be excuse enough for any volume of selections. But Mr. Rideout has chosen so wisely, has used such good judgment in picking out those letters which are most interesting and valuable, and which enable the reader to form the truest conception of Gray and his environment that the volume has an extra claim to the welcome of the public. The introduction--but twenty pages long--gives all the facts necessary to an understanding of Gray's work. Mr. Rideout has succeeded in weaving into this brief narrative facts enough of description and criticism to help the reader to an idea of Gray's personality, his genius and his limitations. The price of the book is $1.00.