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    H00 THE LEADER. [Saturday,

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    JINGLES. Poetical Romances and Ballads. ...

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    BOOKS ON OUR TABLE. A Commonplace Booh o...

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    Mr. Mooncalf Among The Authors. Recollec...

    hollow , "writing sonnets for annuals in a quarter of an hour , while the printer ' s boy was waiting , and so forth . Time passes—*• L . E . L . " marries a successful rival- —Mooncalf accepts the calamity with almost jocular resignation •—Queen " Victoria goes to be crowned— " L . E . L . " sits at a club -window to see her pass—Mooncalf goes among the mob , and tells us ho w he looked up at the adored poetical object for the last time . " As the Lancers , in a style never to be forgotten , rode down the street , I , who had mingled -with the crowd , caught a glimpse—my last glimpse of L . E . L . ' I saw her white veil thrown bade as she rose quickly , and leaned forward to look , on those proud horsemen—the flower of the aristocracy . The next day she had departed . " So ends the Platonic poetical amour of Mr . Mooncalf .

    We had one or two more words , of a seriousl y reproving kind , to say on the subject of these Recollections ; but , on consideration , it seems hardly worth-while to occupy ourselves or our readers any longer with so very imbecile a book . When nonsense gets nicel y printed , and sent into the " world under the sanction of an eminent publisher ' s name , it is nonsense which requires exposing . The exposure , in the present instance , is by this time complete enough for all ordinary critical purposes . Let us take the culprit out of the pillory , and allow him to disappear from sight and hearing as fast as he pleases . °

    H00 The Leader. [Saturday,

    H 00 THE LEADER . [ Saturday ,

    Jingles. Poetical Romances And Ballads. ...

    JINGLES . Poetical Romances and Ballads . By Robert Villiers Sankey , Esq . Hope and Co . Wild Flowers and Green Leaves ; or , Poetical Sketches in Miniature , from , Nature in her Happiest Mood . Saunders and Otley . Did we consult our inclinations , we should spare ourselves a disagreeable task in noticing volumes so utterly undeserving of notice , in a literary point o view , as these . The only inducement to do so is the alaxming increase of such excessive trash , which seems to call on all critics , or other guardians of the public taste , to enter their protest , however humble , against these

    desecrations of the sacred name of Poetry . If the versifiers would only choose another title ! We « ah conceive the objections to the epithet " Rhymes , " even the adjectives "Rhythmical , " " Metrical , " for they might only force glaring deficiencies upon the reader's notice . But the other day , we chanced to meet with a well-thumbed picture-book , -whose author , with scrupulous exactness , had classified its contents as " Nursery Tales , Khymes , and Jingles . " We rejoiced in having at length discovered a class and an order in which to place tha fungus which has been of late so rife in the literary vineyard ; and we have accordingly adopted it formally , as the heading most suitable to the subject of this article .

    Jesting apart , and disclaiming any unWnd intention towards the authors of these particular specimens , -we should act wrongly by them and by the public , if we did not urge strongly on them to renounce a vocation which is obviously not theirs . Mr . Sankey , in his preface , informs us that these poems were written before he was twenty-one , which he alleges as a claim for indulgence . That is all very well as regards his having written them : it is no excuse at all for having published them . He was induced to do so ( of course ) by the solicitations of his friends . A young man of twenty-one may and should be influenced by the opinion of others on such a point , and , therefore , we ought perhaps to blame chiefly the friends -who gave him this injudicious counsel . We cannot discern the least spark of poetical inspiration in the volume . The subjects are common-place and melodramatic without being effective , and the treatment does not redeem them * After

    expressing so much disapprobation , we are bound to support our opinion . We shall do so by extracts , which will enable the public to judge of its justice . Let us take the first stanza in the book : — Yo gay , ye -wealthy , ye who spend your hours In gaining , feasting , or in Mora's bowers ; To who recline upon , the lap of ease , And seek with luxury yourselves to please ; Who strive to gratify each vain desire , Too oft , methinks , incur th 1 Almighty ' s ire By scorning those whom He has placed on earth—Your fellow-creatures , though of humbler birth . Remember poverty baa led to crime , When not assisted in a proper time . The bathos of the last line is irresistible . Here is another grand poetical climax : — But now , my readers , let vb hasto away , And Beek the giddy fair , the vain , the gay , Those who pursue with nimble feet the dance , And wistful gaze to catch , each smilo and glance } Who , lost to modesty and female grace , With high-rouged cheek frequent each public place-, Whose practised curtseys with minuteness show Their silk-clad ankles , and their feet below ; Whoso robes , so tightly fitted to thoir waist , Well hooked behind , and in the front well laced , That they , poor girls , must oven breathe with care , Lost that , by breathing hard , ' twould burst or tear . Such short extracts are perhaps hardly fair . Lot us quote an entire poem . The italics are ours : — THE SCENE O IP DESPAIR . WHICH TOOK PLACID IN WHHXHUM . O my God 1 what sco I now ? la it but ideal woo ? la it?—no , it cannot bo ; Yes , it ia—' ti « Emily . 'Tin in very truth tlio same Emily , that onco loved mtmo .

    Does she love another ? Speak ! Oh . ! my throbbing heart will breai . She , my former hope and pride , Sooa will be another ' s bride ; Heaven forbid it!—yet ' tis so , 'Tviere delusion to say no . Ob , my brain , my frenzied brain ! Can I live and love again ? Cursed then may she be for ever ; Yet I trust not , —never , never ! May she then be bless'd , and may—Yet I scarce know what I say . Hymen ' s knot , is it completed ? Aift my hopes and schemes defeated ? Rabbi , Abbe , FatJier Donney , Stop /—oh ! stop the ceremony . Alas ! too late— 'tis done—' tis done , And my deathless grief ' s begun ; Sle is now another ' s - wife , And I'm -wretched—yea , for life . We quoted the first lines in the volume ;—here are the last : — So off we hurried at a lawful speed , Just reached in time and got a crowded seat , Where all were wedged so closely , that indeed "We scarcely knew where next to stow our feet-An aged dame , whose size would equal two , Sat next to me , and after gazing long , In nervous tone she said , " Ou allez-voust A £ rttxdles , Monsieur ? " " Om \ " "C " e ** 6 flt » . " And this she ask'd to several persons round : 1 ^ 6 doubt she wish'd that some one would get out , That her short feet might better reach the ground , And give her room , poor soul , to move about . I have not time to tell the towns we pass'd , For I ' m impatient that my tale be done ; Suffice it then to say we reach'd at last Brussels , just at the setting of the son . Did Mr . Sankey ' s " friends" urge the publication of this astounding doggrel ? He has done a good thing , according to Job , for his enemies . We close the " plaintiff ' s case , '' and leave the decision to the public . The second ^ book on our list is less absurdly bad ; but it is not more poetical ^ and is full of pretension and of common-place . Here is a specimen . The sense ( cry you merey !) is complete in the passage extracted : — Wag-tail bird of March , Precursor of spring , Pursuivant of flowers , Bright recollections bring . Remembrancer of search , Through , tangled woods , In secret woven bowers , Passing the golden hours , Where lovers meet , In joyous mood , By the tumbling floods , On footsteps fleet , In the cool noontide , And wooed is many a rustic bride , Lovely as princess in heir pride—As pure her blood . Here is another . The last line requires a commentator : — This earth is beautiful , Surpassing all we know . Of loveliness and beauty —• But man is undutiful , His evil passions flow , Hiding his duty , And marring his mind , Leaving nought behind , Of its primeval , But dross ; So utterly debasing is evil , And of good the loss . No one shall say we are unfair critics . "We will quote an entire poem . Attention 1 Flourish of trumpets ! Enter—TO A FADED LEAF . Emblem of hope , long cherished bright , Which scattered incense o ' er ttio soul , But now thou art eclipsed in might , A scorched and blighted scroll . Gencro-us public ! wo will tax your patience no longer . Take comfort , a we do , in the hope that wo must at last have arrived at tfie worst poem o * the year .

    Books On Our Table. A Commonplace Booh O...

    BOOKS ON OUR TABLE . A Commonplace Booh of Tkotiphts , Memories , and Fancies , Original and / Selected . By Mrs . Jameson . Longman , Hrown , Green , and Longmana . The Monumental History of Egypt , as Recorded on tho Jiuins of her Temples , Palaces , and Tombs , By William Osburn , R . S . L . 2 voIh . Trubner and Co . The Poetical Worhst of William Shumtone , with JJfl , Critical Dissertation , and EwpUnnatory Notes . My tho Hov . Goorgo GilflUan . James Nichol . Tho Vision < f Prophecy , and other Poems . By Jamuifl W . Bums , M . A . Johnatono and Hunton . Poems . Hy Aubrey do Voro . Burna and Lambert

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Nov. 18, 1854, page 20, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_18111854/page/20/