Review of Monthly by Dean Briggs

In the December number of the Harvard Monthly, Professor Francke emphasizes the truth that, though the interchange of Harvard professors with Germany enables distinguished men to interpret in foreign countries their own national ideals; "it is an interchange of scholars, not of politicians." The editorial columns demonstrate the leadership of Harvard University in the suggestion of interchange between Germany and America, and support warmly Professor Francke's contention that the Harvard agreement with Germany is purely academic.

"The Poetry of Edward Rowland Sill" is an interesting review, especially in its final pages. Though the style often shows an imperfect sense of the value of words, the writer's evident love of literature, his sympathy with his subject and, at times, his genuine warmth, make his work promising. His extracts from Sill's poetry are less impressive than he means them to be. "The Fool's Prayer," striking as it is, contains more truth than poetry, and would scarcely stick in the reader's mind except for the brilliant perversion at the end,--"O, Lord.

Be merciful to me, a fool!"

The third "Travel Paper of Arminius," is literary chat of a cheerful and graceful sort, showing observation and descriptive skill. "Arlin the Thief" is written in clear, straightforward English but with somewhat inadequate power. In "The Vision of Unfulfilled Desire" the dialogue is not thoroughly effective; but the study of perfunctory married life, made worse by the woman's effort to better it, is well conceived.

The best fiction in the number is "When Granada Came to Almeria." It is interesting from beginning to end, and in certain parts (notably in the cathedral scene) it is to an unusual degree imaginative.

The poetry is not strikingly good. "The Tale of the Stolen Squad" displays easy mastery of narrative verse and must have been fun to write. "Sea-Mist" is poetic--in part, at least--but only intermittently skilful in versification. It commits the indiscretion of beginning its first stanza with a verse that suggests a different metre from what is coming. The conception of "Sonoratown" is better than the execution, which is metrically uncomfortable. The sonnet "On the First Movement of Mahler's Fifth Symphony" is able writing, but not clear. "On a Sundial" is a pleasing but unsatisfying epigrammatic quatrain.

The book notices contain a friendly review of Professor Gardiner's new volume "The Bible as English Literature.