On this page

• Text (2)

  Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

  • 

    all 5 0^ THE- lilADEH. [No. 326, Satttrp...

  • 

    FERRIER'S CARAVAN JOURNEYS. Caravan Jour...

• Transcript

  • Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

    Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.

    Calderon. Life's A Dream: The Great Thea...

    vdMttgt ) fflr » beirig ^* e ^ rtitpoet-of Ktiraanitj-, otallages and all people , which Stol & peirajpoisaesaed inbAiiig a Protestant : ~ . As : tfe do n *> t see what is so . clear , to thoughtful men we must leave the reader to try Hla skill in divination . TKe three great poets we take to be Hbrnek Sftkkspeare , and Goethe . The Protestantism of Homer is out of qttfestitea ,- <* at of SHafcspeare is ; very * questionable , and that of Groethe su-¦ Against Mft Trench ' s strongly worded claims for Calderon * s greatness we venture tat oppose two general considerations . The reader must understand Hbaf we are . not denying , Calderon ' s specific greatness , nor his claim to be ranged among the illustrious men thronging the sides of Parnassus ; we only" deny hls'claiin"to be ranked among those who stand on the heights of Ahe ^ dotttete-icrested Mounfci'" First then we remark in Galderon the almost total absence of that wealth of thought so abundant in great poets , and

    which ifl not only visible in- the composition of their works as wholes , but Tuns over into exquisite rills of verse , where , as proverbs and citations , they ibr ever meander , through the nation ' s literature . There is more evidence -of ihteHfectual wealth in the single scene between Celimene and Arsinoe ( in Molxto & Misitnthrope ) so brief , so reticent , so pregnant , so certain inrts . touches , andiso ffcee from' superfluous touches , than in any one play of Ualderon '* w e have xe » d ; . and as to the jealousy scene in Q / keMo + will not do Calderom the . injustice to : think of a comparison . But over and above his thought displayed in the composition there is , as we noted , a perpetual overflow In the shape of yva > f * ait pregnant sayings , deep glances , felicities of thought felicitously expressed , lines which are born immortal and are certain to become proverbsy orj to use Boileau ' s happy phrase ,

    Par le prompt eflfet d ' tin sel rejotussant , . Devenir quelquefbis proverbesen naissant . Ini these Galderon is singularly poor . Imagery abounds in his plays , but haw rarely are those images such as perpetually recur to our minds with taunting grace ? The very best of these * at least the best of those which we can recal , is the one so perfectly translated by Mr . Fitzgerald , and quoted by , Mr . Trench : — He who far off beholds another dancing , Even one-who dances beet , and all the time Hears not the music that he dances to , Thinks him a . madman , apprehending , not The law which moves his else eccentric action . So he that ' s in himself insensible Of . love ' s sweet influence , misjudges him . ¦ .. Who moves according . to love ' s melody ; And knowing not that all these sighs and tears , Ejaculations and impatiences jtone necessary changes of a measure Which the divine musician play a * : may call The lover crazy , which , he would not do , Did'he within , his own heart Hear the tune Played Vf tfce-great' musician of " the world . Is it not exquisite ? and will not every reader of Calderon admit that passages like this are excessively rare ? „ .,. „ ., , _ A ,, The second general remark we would make is this : Besides the intellectual prodigality of great poets there is—to borrow an illustration from the tticxo & nve ^ axkfimnff power in their minds causing all their conceptions to take such definite shapes that we never forget or confound them with the shapes-met elsewhere : In reading Calderon , as in reading Beaumont and Fletcher , we may be delighted with the surprising turns of the plot , and the graceful ifccility- of the language , but we scarcely ever remember the plots , notswfcen'thenameof a character is recalled do we recal an image of the person , so Httle of a durable impression has been made . One or two of < Jalder < m '& plots-are memorable ; suchasEl Medico di su honra , and Ml Alcalde de Zalamea , from a certain ghastly energy of conception ; but the reader may judge how transient is the impression produced by any particular play if we record' a fact in our own experience , namely , that having twice read

    ' tiife ' aa ^ Dream i' and once analysed it * translating some portions , besides reading' analyses in various German andi English criticisms , we had totally forgotten what was the story , what were the means taken to embody the conception , and what were the characters of the piece , and this after a lapse ofonljr some- six or seven years-. Ab our memory may here be < jh « rgeabler , we refer to the-experience of every other reader of Calderon , certain'tbfct * after-a very brief interval , the plots'and characters'of the works he admired will have become very hazy , if not entirely obliterated : Now it is clear tHht * we' cannot be incessantly re-reading a poet , and if his works are soR-evaneflcent from . our memories , his chance of < becoming a 'Household Word isr butf small '; and this is Calderon ' s cose , as it is also Lope de Vega ' s ; but it is not the case with the great poetayor atleastnot with their worKsj ' . w 4 ich * live by intrinsic worth , and not nominis itmbrcti On-tliese-two ceneral criticisms we are content to rest our denial of

    Cal-^ eron ' s claims to be considered a poet of whom even the wildest enthusiasm KioTild'Say-he-belonged to the highest order . Mr . Trench thinks otherwise , jtnd jf the reader sees in this volume any evidence which satisfies him , we have no-more-to say . That Mr . Trench ' s admiration is facile maybe gathered from- the following : — When , we seek to fbrm an estimate of Calderon , it is , I think , in the first place impossible a « t to admire the immense range of history and fable which supplies him wHh < th 6 « jt | bJect matter for hi * -art , and the entire ease and aelf-posseaBion with which ^•• BiBVWthrou gh everyprovlnew of hi « poetical domain ; andi this * even where he ia noMM « ito « aak »> perfectly good hi » claim . ' to . every portion , of it . Thus he has several drJUBOMuaAMhk ^ iUie anruuMnt ia . drawn frbm < the Old Testament , The Locks of

    Abnn / ijW > Hpa , || irii < n » i the nobleefc of these . Still more liavo to do with the heroio martyj $ aamm « i > 4 > tkm l « gend « of , Christian antiqtrity ,, tbe victories . of the Cross of ^ Christ overall t ^ ftffl ^ iljuand apfritnal . wickednesses of the aaclont heathen world . To this them * , Tvtolob . la ^ me almost . undr & wn . uppa . in , our Elizabethan drama , —Masainger ' s V fam * Mivrtyr i * . th «) . onjy example I , remember , —he returns continually , and he has elA & raied these p % a :: iditt p ^ culUr care . Of these The Wonder-working Magician Isntot ' e & tem-ated- , bttrotners ; as The Joseph of Wihnen , The 7 W . Lovers of Htmvttv , quite deserve to be placed on a level , If not indeed higher than it . A tender pathetio gca ^ lwrfiaaiu ^ ii this lart ^ tdohigtvasi lt ^ pwcnli ^ r » ohannT . Th « a . toohft ha »

    occorpied what one might venture to call the region , of sacred mythology , as in The Sihyl of the East , in which the profound legends identlfying ^ the Cross of Calvary and the Tree of Life are wrought up into a poem of surpassing beauty . In other of these not the Christian , but the Romish , poet is predominant , as in The Purgatory of St Patrick , The Devotion of the Cross , Daybreak in Cqpacabana , this last being the story of the first dawn of the faith in Peru . Whatever there may be in these of superstitious , or , a 3 in one of them there is , of ethically revolting , none but a great poet could have composed them . ¦ . Then further , his historic drama reaches down from jthe grey dawn of earliest story to the celebration of events which happened in his own day ; it extends from Tha Daughter of tJte Air , being the Legend of Semiramis , and in Goethe ' s judgment his most glorious piece ( Goethe however seems only to have been familiar with thoae which had been translated into German ) , down to The Siege of Breda , alluded to

    already . Between these are dramas from Greek history ; and from Roman . Of these The Great Zenobia is the best ; The Arms of Beauty , on the story of Coriolanus , and as poor as its name would indicate , the worst . Others are from Jewish ; and a multitude from the history of modern Europe ; thus two at least from English annals ; one , rather a poor one , on the Institution of the Order of the Garter ; another , The Schism of England ; which is hk Henry the Eighth , and , as may be supposed , written at a very different point of view from Shakspeare ' s . It is chiefly curious as shewing what was the popular estimate in Spain of the actors in our great religious reformation ; and displays throughout an ev ident desire to spare the king , and to throw the guilt of bis breach with the Church on Anna Boleyn and Cardinal Wolsey . But the great majority of Calderon ' s historical dramas are drawn , as was to be expected in a poet so intensely national , and appealing to so intensely national a feeling , from the annals of his own country . These have the immense advantage of being the embodiment , for the most part , of events already familiar to the popular mind . The heroes of Spanish romance and of Spanish history are here brought forward ; and not the remoter names alone , but those of the eentury preceding , Isabella of Castile ,

    Charles the Fifth , the Conquistadores , Philip the Second , Don John of Austria , Alva , Figueroa , and even some of thosewho were still living when he wrote . We omit the remaining paragraphs referring to classical subjects , and remark upon the whole case that our admiration is but tepid lor the mere ' extent and range' of history , when history is so utterly and recklessly disregarded as in Calderon . We do not blame the Spanish poet for disregarding historical accuracy and covleur locale . If his Greeks , Komans , Mythological and Oriental persons are undistinguishable in everything but name from the Spanish characters of his Spanish p lays , we blame him not ; he never thought of pleasing an erudite pit of critics , and if he had thought of pleasing such a pit , it is probable the pit would have been empty , partly because no such erudite critics were in Spain , and mainly because the nonerudite would have stayed away . We cannot , however , so easily acquit Mr Trench He knows well enough how little historv there is in these historical plays , and that his admiration should be excited by a mere range and extent of ignorance is not conceivable ; what then is it which rouses his admiration ? .

    _ . , „ . . ,, Our remarks have extended so far that we have little room left m which to characterize the contents of the book . It consists of a Life of Calderotv a criticism ; or , more properly speaking , remarks on his genius , a sketch ot the English literature on the subject , and analyses of two plays , with interspersed translations . Compressed within narrower limits the book would have made an agreeable article for a Quarterly Rtvieic , and it may have attractions for students of Spanish poetry which its slim form and moderate cost may permit them to enjoy .

    All 5 0^ The- Liladeh. [No. 326, Satttrp...

    all 5 0 ^ THE- lilADEH . [ No . 326 , Satttrpa y ^

    Ferrier's Caravan Journeys. Caravan Jour...

    FERRIER ' S CARAVAN JOURNEYS . Caravan Journeys and Wanderings in Persia , Afghanistan , Turldstan , and Beloochistan By J . P . Ferrier . Translated by Captain William Jesse . Edited by H . D . Seymour , M . P- Murray . One of the old English voyagers introduced his narrative tbus : " Being determined to survey the world , I sailed from Bristol . " M . Ferrier began his indefinite wanderings in the same spirit , when he started from Bagdad . He was resolved "to try his fortunes beyond Persia , in the countries yet imperfectly known of Central Asia . " His Oriental friends predicted , as the result , a speedy and miserable death , in the most desolate- wildernesses , or among the worst barbarians of the East . But an old Chasaeur d'Afnque , who had Persian and

    served-in the Algerine wars , who had aided in drilling a army who knew the secrets of travel , was not easily operated upon by fear , and M . Ferrier , accordingly , in the spring of the year 1845 , struck off from the valley of the Tigris , to explore the limits of civilization , across the waterless solitudes of Khorassan . His boldness was that of Ibu Batuta ; the romance of his adventures was that of Pietro della Valle . No recent traveller has revived bo well the sense of excitement , associated with peril , enterprise , discovery . We read his journals , as we read the stories ot the Celebrated Travellers ; they are as . full of interest , of variety , of the churm that uolonca to new scenes well described , of colour , anecdote , and animation , and Captain Jesse is so proficient a translator that the pictorial vitality ot tuo original French is in no degree lost . . . j & Ferrier , displaced by Kussian influence from his official post in 1 ersia , and disappointed in his efforts to obtain redress in France , returned W

    Bagdad , and planned a journey , in search of fortune , to Lahore . Beyond the Persian frontier his route lay through territories so dangerous and inaccessible , that few Europeaus have attempted to . explore them . l < rom neras he tried to penetrate through Bnlkh and the cities on that highway to Lahore ; but thronging perils and obstacles baffled him , and he was lorcou to turn back , when at no great distance from Kabul . Next , he struck into the country of the formidable Hazarahs , in which no Afghan duras to travel , and in which no European had hitherto set foot . He had nearly reachou the ancient and curious city of Gour , when the joalous chiola ot tuo Hazarah nation compelled him to retrace his steps to Herat . I Iiimjco , nuer a short repose , and in spite of warnings , ho set out to try and reach lnu »" i through Southern . Afghanistan , by Girishk and Kandahar . In these countries hia adventures . were marvellous . He saw tho strangest illustrations oi inoio

    the primitiveifbrma . of life in Central Asia , engrafted on manners of modern growth ; ho-was several times imprisoned ; ho passed in various disguises j he was in some places , threatened with tho direst tortures , m others . entertained with th © ino » t . seduoing hospitalities . All this giv «» " »

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), June 21, 1856, page 18, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_21061856/page/18/