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    LAYS OF MIDDLE AGE. Lan? of Middle Age: ...

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    ideally united to those great authors by...

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    MAGAZINES. Blackwoo^.—We have had to cri...

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    Cambmbge Essays. Cambrhhje Essays. Contr...

    embodied , the standing army is liberated , and what tl conscious of our own motives , call a defensive measure , is regarded by our neighbours as possibly SSressive . And so both nations go on strengthening their resources , as it is called , by wasting their capital , the real blood and sinews of their system , while the ' gods and the political economists look on ¦ with loud laughter or in silent contempt . ¦ ¦ A literary paper , upon " Sir Philip Sidney , a contribution upon " The . Ancient Bashan and the ¦ Cities of Qg , " ' another upon " Commissioners and Colleges , " and a fourth upon " Hieratic Papyri , compose the six essays ot the volume . l » ev arc creditable as University productions , though an atmosphere of amateur feebleness and scholastic heaviness hangs over all .

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    •» • ' ¦ ¦ . .... '¦ .. . . " ¦ . .. . ¦ No . 459 , Jww w . « , XS 59 . } : 1 ME ^ IEADEB > . 47 ;

    Lays Of Middle Age. Lan? Of Middle Age: ...

    LAYS OF MIDDLE AGE . Lan ? of Middle Age : a > id other Poems . By James HeilckTwick . Cambridge : Macmillan and Co . Tukse are the productions of a mind that has reached its maturity , and the scope of which has consequently been ascertained . Among the poems are several which have been for some time in circulation in an anonymous form . The . principal pieces —the * ' Lays" intended by the title—arc a consecutive series of short poems ( consisting , in fact , of twcni . v-seven lines , or tjiree stanzas , each ) , which follow "' a train of feeling and thought in association with the public events of the day , and the development of the . author ' s own character . They are all scholarly compositions , and indicate great refinement of taste , and mellowness of experience . There is , likewise , a severity of style , for which in these days , when diiFuscness is so much encouraged , we cannot be sufficiently thankful / The lighter poems , though deficient in the marks of ripeness which make the value of the group of " Lays , " arc ¦ distinguished-by delicacy and richness of fancy-, and an elegance of " touch , which justifies the comparative popularity that some of them in their anonymous state have attained . There is one of them , in which the . linnet's song ia described ' and imitated , that is of great excellence ami beauty , . and there is none without some special merit or degree of interest . ¦ > The reader will , we are sure , be grateful for the poem of "The Linnet , " and therefore with this we venture to conclude our brief notice of the book : —

    Till ! I . IKNKT . Tuck , tuck , feer—from the green and growing leaves ; Ic , ic , ic—from the little song-bird ' s throat 5 How the silver chorus weaves in tbo sun and ' neath the enves , While from dewy clover fields comes ( lie lowing of the beeves , And the Summer in the Heavens is afloat ! Wye , wye , chir—' tis the little linnet sings ; Wout , wcet , weet—how his pipy treble trills ! In his bill and on his wings whnt a joy the linnet brings , As over all the sunny earth his merry lay ho flings , . Giving gladness to the music of the rills ! Ic , ic , ir—from n happy heart unbound ; Lug , Ing , jeo—from the dawn till closo of day ! There is rapture in the sound , as it iills the sunshine round , Till the ploughman ' s careless whistle and the shepherd ' s pipe arc drown'd , And the mower sings unheeded ' inong the liny . Jug , jug , jooy—oh , how awoot the linnet ' s thoine ! l ' ou , pou , poy—ia ho wooing all tlio while ? Does ho drcum ho ia in heaven , and is telling now his droani , To soothe the heart of simple maiJon sighing by the stream , Or wuiting for hor lover at tho atilo ? Pipe , pipe , chow—will tho linnet novor wonry ? Bal , bol , tyr—is he pouring forth his vows ? Tho maidon lone and ucria may fool hor heart loss dreary , Yot none may know the linnet ' s bliss oxcopt his lovu so cheery , With hor little housohold nostlad 'mong tho boughs .

    Ideally United To Those Great Authors By...

    ideally united to those great authors by the study of whom she has grown to intellectual maturity . Miss Mitford rccals for us our impressions of the Percy R . eliques , with which she . rightly commences the history of modern poetry . To them the most original minds of the . century resorted for fresh draughts from the ' springs of nature , which , in that ballad collection , continually greeted the poetic pd o-rim a & thc eye wandered from page to page and wooed liim to take pleasure in simplicity and childhood feelings . As one of her great favourites she quotes , " the fine ballad of ' Kyng Estmere . ' From rhyming lore of this sort she passes on to the Daviswhose

    Irish lyrists , particularly Thomas , " Sack of Baltimore" she cites as an extraordinary composition , with a . specimen or two from the Nation ; not forgetting to celebrate John Bauim as the founder of the truly national Irish novel , as well as the writer of peasant songs , and the tragedy of Damon and Pythias . Nor is she slow to express a wonder that the lovers of the true lyric have always felt , that " with such ballads as these of John Banim , Thomas Davis , and Gerald Griffin before us , Mr . Moore , that great and undoubted wit , should pass in die . highest English circles for the only song-writer of Ireland ? " Ay , to the right reason , this is strange enough ; yet , in experience such errors are so common , that the strangeness is

    not apparent . Miss Mitford asks a significant question on the point , which it . is our duty to enforce . " Do people really prefer flowers made of silk and cambric , of gum and wire , the work of human hands , however perfect , to such as Mother Earth sends forth in the ' . gushing spring-time , full of sap arid odour , sparkling with sunshine , and dripping with dew ? " Yes , we must answer . In an artificial state of society like ours , the artificial will ever appear niorc natural than the -real , until found put'bv those few ; minds whose unsophisticated tastes are destined eventually to correct the vulgar errors that are ' always inthe first instance preferred to . the truths they * substitute . AVe have to . earn the appreciation of good , and require time for the

    who , whether m verse or prose , were poetSj profound thinkers , and had studied nature " with a learned spirit of human dealing . " Miss Mitford , asadramatist , sympathises strongly with the drama , and is indignant with the impediments winch the modern arrangements of the stage throw jri the way of original'production .. She laments the fate of Tobin , Griffin , Darley , and others who have more or less recently' shown dramatic

    genius without sufficient recognition . Part of the evil complained of has been done away with , by the extension ' . of the arena ; but . another still continues . Modern actors have grown up in the study of drawing-room plays , chiefly taken from the French , and are disinclined to engage in the sterner contests of the poetic drama . 1 ' h-ey consult their own ease rather than the public good ; but an opinion is growing which will , we trust , provide a remedy , and again right the balance .

    Miss ' Mitford has been remarkably successful in her poetical specimens : some of them are of a rare description , both in regard to excellence and vogue . One we must cite , as a specimen . It is a sonnet by the late Mr . Blanco "White : —

    TO NIGHT . Mvsterious Night ! when our first Parent knew Thee from report divine , and heard thy name , Did he Hot tremble for this lovely frame , This glorious canopy of light and blue ? Yet ' neath a curtain of translucent dew . Bathed in the rays of the great setting flame , Hesperus with the host of Heaven came , And , Id- ! creation widened in man's view . Who could have thought such darkness lay concealed Within thv beams , O Sun ! or who could find ,

    Whilst fly and leaf and insect stood revealed , That to such countless orbs thou mad ' st us blind ? Whv do we then shun death with anxious strife ?^ If Light can thus deceive , wherefore not Life ? This soiinet was declared by Coleridge to be the finest in our language . The beauty , of the execution is equal to tiie grandeur of the thought . Most remarkable ,. however , is the fact , that its author was bom and educated in Spain , and wrote English very imperfectly until he was turned of thirty . Such is the taste with which Mias Mitford ' s selections have been made .

    process . Mr . Tvocl , too , the author of Tifa / mes om ! . lioioirJe laj / es , and of the well-known ballad , / 'T he P ; iu £ er [ s Drive , " is a favourite with our reminiscent , bo is Ans-tey , the author of The Ph'aJer's . Guide ; so is Longfellow , the American Darwin ; so is -Praed ; so is " John Clare ; so is Oliver Wendell Holmes , the American D-ryden ; so is W . C . . Bennett , George Darlcr , and William Mptherwell . Of John Clare , aiid poets of . his class , Miss Mitford makes good account , and g ives' seasonable admonition , which it becomes needful more and more to repeat . She lauds his genius , she laments his lunacy , she would restore him to socictv .

    Wo cannot ( she says ) do too much ( or John Clare ; hu has a claim to it as a man of" genius suffering under the severest visitation of IVovi'doiice . But let us beware of indulging ourselves by encouraging the class of pseudo-peasant poets who spring up on every side , nnd uro amongst tho most pitiable objects in creation . One known them by sight upon the pathway , from thoir appcarauco of vagrant misery—an appearance arising from the sense of injustice and of oppression under which ( hoy suffer , tho powerless feeling that they have claims which the whole world refuses to acknowledge , a perpetual and growing souse of injury .

    It is a worse insanity than John Clare ' s , and one for which there is no asylum . Victims to thoir day-dreams are they . They have heard of Burns and of Clm ' ttorton 5 they have a certain knack of rhyming , although oven that is by no menus necessary to such a delusion ; they find nn audience whom their , intense faith in their own power conspires to delude ; nnd their < miot , thoir content , their every prospect is ruined for over . It ia this honest and unconquerable persuasion of their own genius that makes it impossible to reason with or

    convince them . Uheir fnith iu thdr own powers , thoir rucking sense of the injustice of nil about them , makes one ' s hunvt acho . It is impossible for tho sternest or tho sturdiest toller of painful truths to disenchant them , and tho consoquonce is as obvious us it is miserable . For that shadow every mibsJUineo is foregone . They beliovo poetry to bo thoir work , and th « y will do no othor . Thon' comos utter poverty . They hnunt the alehouse , they drink , tlu > y sicken , they starve . I have known main' such .

    llECOLLECTIONS OF A LITIQLIAIU" LIFE . lioooUootinna of a Literary Life , and 8 «/ oot ions from my Favourite Poets and Prosv ' Writers . By Mnry liiitisoil MUford . Now Edition . Rloliiml JJontloy . Tuts is a channiug book for Ihoso who havo leisure to dwell on its pugou dreamily ami oniuy oomnumioii With tho writers mind , tiharhifr in ljor tasloa , nud , partaking in tbo delight o f that beauty whioh , for hor , invoats tho , oommon day with a peculiar radinnoo ' . It is nq formal biography that wo moot with in those light and airy nixges , but a retracing of thoao tnontnl nsaooiatioua uy which the writer is

    Tho importance of this extract 13 its best apology . Tlioro is n warning voioo indeed . In these dnya particularly , lot it bo well hcciluj . Turn wo rVojn such j ) fo » ipoc'ts , and disport awhile , iu I lie oompany of our authoress , with tho Old Musters ol tho divino art , who with thoiv singing 'robes put on tho Scliolui- 's : M'ith Cowloy , Homck , Willior , Sir Philip Sydnev , AYobsW'r , Jonapii , Milton , Audrow Murvcll , Jjucon and Jeremy Taylor j men

    Magazines. Blackwoo^.—We Have Had To Cri...

    MAGAZINES . Blackwoo ^ . —We have had to criticise better and worse numbers than tho one now before us . Bulwer Lytton ' s four-volume novel What will he do with it ? " comes to a conclusion , and , ' as we have elsewhere reviewed it , we shall make no comment here . " Burniah and Burmese" is interesting reading . " A Cruise in the Japanese Waters '' is full of pleasant information . " How to boil Teas" is a dreary specimen of Scottish humour . " An Angling Saunter in Sutherland" is readable . " Popular Literature—the Periodical Press" would make an excellent and instructive article in experienced hands , but we feel tolerably sure that the writer of this article has veryscant practical information on the subject . The " lioval Proclamation in India" finishes the number .

    FitASisn—beg ins , the new year with vigour . Ihe opening article is entitfed " liolmby Tluuse : a Tale of Old Northamptonshire , " by G . J . Whyte Melville , in which we ore treated to a prospect of some scenes and advontures in the stirring period of Cavaliers nnd Roundheads . There arc four chapters , and they seem to promise that th , e work will not only keep up , but add to the reputation of tho writer . ? ' Concerning the Art of Putting Things ? ' will be found suggestive , nnd quite M'ortliy of attentive reading . " Schloss Kishaus . cn : a Mystery in Three Parts , " of which Part the First is only vouchsafed , will

    awaken attention , and compel the render to look forward impatiently for the next number of the magazine . " Mr . Gladstone on Homer , " by tho Rev . Biirhom Zincke , is tho production of a learned and impartial thinker . " Dramatic Treasure Trove" is full of curious ineidont . "Mushrooms" is a rambling nnd readable article , " sicklied over with learning " on certain edible , /"" , /' , which wo are apt to despise or to reject aa poisonous . " Furniture Books , " 41 Hints for Vagabonds , " and " How Queon Victoria wae Proclaimed at Pushawur , " severally contribute thoir quota pf information or aniuscmcnt .

    Tiik Dunux Univisksitv—stops boldly into the foremost rank among these serials . The articles arc varied in character , and evidently from no uupractised pens . Wo have road nothing hotter or morojuatin respect to Dr . Arnold ' s position as a tcnchiTi who made a pretty strong mark on tbo age in which ho lived , and bis general literary abilities nnd status , than the article with which tbo number opens . Tiie critique on Carlylo ' s Froilariok the ( jrcat is equally good . Lover continues his " Gerald Fitzgerald , " and tbcro uro ten more artiolos till good iu themselves . Tho nreasure on our limited sptveo at

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Jan. 8, 1859, page 15, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_08011859/page/15/