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.

  • 

    ^ Ann Timber 21. 1857.1 T H E LEAMB ^, 1...

  • 

    I A LITERARY BIOGEAJPHY. The Life of Joh...

• 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.

    Beranger's Last Songs. Dernieres Chanson...

    " adertook to express . We might as well have gone to a child fora rationa summaw of ' polSical doctrine as to Be ' ranger . 'He knew nothing of no-STs the French say ; but he had very noble sentiments andjery welt Xcld antipathies . He became as it vrere the voice of the nation , and SLve a form to all its vague and undefined desires . The ^ P ^ ical and logical character of the French was never better W" ?^ ** } ™ { he publican songster Who exhausted all his genius m . keeping alive the Kunerstitious worship of the Fetish of St . Helena . . ¦ ; . .. ... ., ^ Les Souvenirs du Peuple' is one of the most pathetic and admirable of Berber ™ factions ; and moves even those who usuall y turn away * ith cold dike from all thought of the ^ J ^^ rE ^ l ^ ir ^ volume

    n ' est pas Mort , in the present , vuuugu »»> - »« m ~ - . - - B ^^ ix ^^ - ^^ - ^^^ the production of a fourth-rate disciple . The same remark appliestoal the other Napoleonic effusions ; and , we regret to add , to three-fourths of all the songs in this collection . ¦/" . Voici les chansons de ma vieillesse , wj V . *?¦¦> .- ¦ „„„*•„„ ,. t * ^ oc »« , ini , ht . r ^ lpjisant to write them , andit is

    sometimes pleasant to read . But those friends and admirers of Benmger who cry out that he has here surpassed himself , may do infinite damage to his reputation . Many who make a first acquaintance with him by means of this volume will be satisfied and go no further ;; and will say quietly to themselves , " Do such things bestow immortality ? _ , _ Why conceal the truth j and what is the meaning of this enthusiasm got up for the occasion ? Beranger knew his own literary position perfectly will ; ¦¦'« The most fertile mind , " he says , " only a certain number of

    forms to apply to thought , which belongs to everybody . Mine were exhausted , or nearly so ( under the Bourbons ) . Let younger men now try their chance . 'V This is sensible . It shows that the poet did not deceive himself ; Whatever his mission may have been , he had fulfilled it when ne ceased to publish . Afterwards when he wrote it was almost as an amateur ; arid if we consider his later productions in that light , without reference to his youn ger and more vigorous efforts , except as motives for our present interest , curiosity will be to a certain extent repaid . But we repeat , to refer readers who do not already love Beranger to his 'Dernieres Chansons as a specimen of his powers , is to do the worst possible service to his memory . They will find pages and pages of elegant verses and ' rich rhymes , some : ¦ ' J . , -r < = > ¦ ¦ ¦ . _ ¦¦¦ ! i . 1 '' ! . ... A . I v ^ nifnmmiff that , rpminn One £ 1 ¦¦ ituu ^ i ^ iul

    ingenious : Uuruens , some gay UUvu ^ . w , v ^ . -. -- ^ little too much of the grandmamma emulating youthful activity , but they will rarely meet anything like a startling picturesque expression , a line that ^ erS like a dagger , a humorous turn that forces aughter a tender ^ expression that irresistibly brings tears to the eye-ids . _ ' Lisettes and ' fillettes ^ are talked of , not embodied ; and indeed there is a remarkable , almost prudish absence of warmth of colouring . He who could so sweetly and pathetically paint regrets which he had not yet felt-whilst smiles and kisses still hovered around him—seems to have forgotten all as soon as sencharacter oi

    sation died away . Beranger appears now ? n the a spiriiuau ^ , and defends the immortality of the soul in choice language . He & eems anxiot to ^ rove that some of the li berties he took with forms of tart * J v ^ ere » . « , sallies of the imagination , or outbursts of licentiousness . He _ never , indeed , adopted the material doctrine , and created , as we know , theDien des Uonnes Gens for the adoration of his school . But we suspect he would scarcely have ventured thirty years ago to exclaim indignantly by the

    mouth of ' a poet ' : — . Prostitute et vagabonde , Quoi ! cette ame , esclave ici-bas , N ' a point de cicl oil fuirle monde Qu ' elle sent crouler sous ses pas ! ¦ ¦ -. r i i ¦ - l l ~~ . «« ,. i * ± l- » ^ 1 ^ # -kc-f pi- \ aniiiin ! ic in ilin vr * lii > "nf * iV * v Pvt . rficfc US

    an antidote to the necessary severity of our remarks , which we make in the interest chieily oi" Beranger ' s reputation . But instead of transcribing the whole of ' 11 est Mort , ' which we repeat is excellent , wo can only give the curious reference to the idea once enterUiined in France that Napoleon would re-appear as the leader of an insurrection in our Indian empire : — Uu matelut , qui connait l'lndc esclave ,

    Pour nous servir vcut qu'il y soit passe . // mate au feu lc Mahrutte $ i brace , Etdes Aiif / lais Vcmjiire tst menace . There could not be a bettor illustration of a truth which we have recently had so many opportunities of learning , that the merely popular feeling over the water is that any disaster that could occur to us in India or elsewhere * ir / iiil > l lvn > i Kli ««> iii > nr t . n Vvhll <*(! .

    We do not take this opportunity to characterize Beranger as a songster . That task will devolve upon us when the forthcoming ' Biography , written by Himself , ' is under notice . We bore merely enter our protest against these ' Dernieres Chansons' being considered , except iu some few instances , as additions to his claims to immortality-if immortality can be won by _ productions , however exquisite , that tire so local and temporary as some ot the best of Boranger ' s . l Homines noir * , d ' ovi sortez-vous ? ' may last as long as the Jesuits , but l Dans uu CJronier , ' and a few others only , will last as long us youth and love . . . . ' This tic Vers , ' which introduces this volume , contains an exquisite passage : — ..

    Die . u nii vcut plus ! Kt , comine aux lms ( lautomne Le villageois , duns si's elos de ' pouille ' s , I Jicynrtlu v . ncor si Vnrlirc en su couroiims Nc c < iche pas quelques fruits oiifjlid * , Jo vuis uhcrchant ; pour eela jc ln ' eveille ; I Mnid l ' arbro eat mort , fatiguo ties hivers . I Qu'il miuuiuera do fiiutn a ma eorbeillc !

    I Diou no vcut plus quo jo l ' usse de yen ? . i These * fruits forgotten in the upper branches' were worth gathering for | the most part ; but it is not fuir to judge the tree by them .

    ^ Ann Timber 21. 1857.1 T H E Leamb ^, 1...

    ^ Ann Timber 21 . 1857 . 1 T H E LEAMB ^ , 1121 l

    I A Literary Biogeajphy. The Life Of Joh...

    I A LITERARY BIOGEAJPHY . The Life of John Banim , the Irish Novelist . " With Extracts from his Correspondence . By Patrick Joseph Murray . ' '¦?' Literary biographers are rarely successful , and why ? Because they will not confine themselves to biography , hut branch into irrelevances at every turn ; or still oftener , because they forget that they have undertake ^ to write the story of an individual , and not to build for him . a pedestal loftier than his claims . Mr . Murray sins in the latter respect . He labours to the summit of the ancient Pyramid of Worthies , to find . on ; that eminence a throne for John Eanim , a principal writer of the Tales by the O'Hara Family , 1 and author of Damon and Pythias , tragedy in which . Macready played , i ¦ . ¦ . L .-u . ' rw i ~~ ir * mv . ia "< ia Viia . firamatift lieutenant . ' Poor Banini was a man xi * -a *> j —

    , \ V 1 L 1 _ 1 viiuUCD - ^^ imjL ^ , <* u «» m»—« -- # of peculiar and conspicuous merit , his character was good , his works were popular , he suffered many bitter mishaps in the course of a perplexed and painful life ; but these characteristics of himself and his biography might , have been presented with more effect had Mr . Murray understood the virtue of simplicity . Instead of this , he overloads his narration with farfetched analogies , commonplace illustrations , and unnecassary panegyrics His materials have been inartisticaUy put together so as to form a series of ^ li ^ nisitinnnl sk- Pi fihes . and he is not carefu l to eliminate all superfluous ox its

    unimportant matter . The book is a Memorial , not a Life . It possesses actions . The tale of BanimV struggles ^ efforts , however ^ differently told , could not be without interest . But it would have W a more creditable performance had the style been less florid and the a £ ] j « J . ^ £ ^ : tatious . Mr . Murray does not arrive at the parentage of _ the Irish novelist until he has referred to the anguish of Philoctetes and of Lear , the martyiv dom of Nash-the ' creature' of famine-the poverty of - ^ f ^ tJ ^ - be ^ ary of Stowe , the strangulation of Otway , thefincvde ^ f Chatterton , xxarL

    thecharity ofGoldsmith , the . noisery-ot ravage , « -a « . > "T ™ " \~^ Johnson ' s Tags and pride , Chesterfields « clever puppyism , ' Carlyie s sneer at Boswell , the-murder' of Kirke White , ^ g *^^ £ ^ J ^ j £ pallid face of Gerald Griffin , and the mental decay ^ of Scott and l ^ uthey . Surely , this might have sufficed , even for a biographer . But ^ . r . M-urray has carried hisStudies . farther , and is anxious ^ TOJJf ?^^ theresult . Coming round , by way of ' great . old Samuel ^^^ ^ . -r . , biography , he referi , and not in mere side glances o Hoiacei ^ foagjgne , Southey , Boswell , Sydney Smith , Byron , Scott , J baks P eare - ^ ^ 1 ^ : Shortly afterwards , an anecdote of precocity ^ uffices . to W & ** . *** ¦ *» dust of Cato , Hobbes , Bacon , Descartes , Boyle ^ , ^" ' ^^ , f ^ tvw - * _ : „„!„ T ^ a ^ i > . Vom nncVT ^^ oftftcio : Shellev , Gibbon , Button , and

    that the narrative of Montaigne ' education , labours , and travels ranks a ^ ong ^ xe jewels of literature ^ no doubt much that is important may be told of the poets , from Tasso to Shelley ; but i the biography of no one individual can be written without references to a hundred others P ^ antry is a quality less objectionable inaman and a book than we have always considered it to be . Certainly , it interferes with the story vhich the writer has undertaken to tell . Besides , the effect of these digressions is not to exalt , cts wonts ¥

    but to deo-rade the person wiiose a ana me - " ""^ t ,.- ¦ ' ~ f writer of the O'Hara Tales and of the tragedy Damon and FyUnas earned a reputation for himself , but his name ^ vill not appear on the same rol l with the names of the Greek or Italian classics . Apart from its tendency to excursiveness , and its generally extravagant tone , Mr . Murray ' s volume maybe commended to notice as the record of a literary career marked byjiiany triumphs , but by still more numerous and still more striking vicissitudes . uoui tun i i ... j

    In John JtSanuxi , we nave a man w we . « . m . * - ^ r r ~ He was born in 1798 , a plain-looking child , with < great staring eyes and a most lovable disposition . As a toy , he was devoted to study and . to exercises in poetical and prose composition . The private theatre at Kilkenny moved him to sympathy with the drama ; there he heard Tom Moore re-«? f ; n-n . ™» nf wi « nwn liicfleg . and forthwith called , with a specimen of verse ,

    upon the poet , who sent him on his way rejoicing by calling him his brotherpoet . ' His next attempt was at the construction of wings for himself , but these , launching him from a manure heap , laid him in the mud . Itfext he tried to make sky-rockets , wliich blazed ignobly along the ground ; this experiment he remembered years afterwards , when his drama had been triumphantly played at Covent Garden , for he wrote homo , saying that , at ¦ . v '_ i . . 1 -A * ..., „ d-r ,. ^/ . L- f Wp fin nnt . nrnnose to trace an outline

    , from the volume by Mr . Murray , which , no doubt , wll be extensively read ; but , having explained our objections to his plan , we vvill quote a passage or two by way of exemplification of Banim ' s life , and his biographer s manner of treating it . An unfortunate affection had sprung up between Bamm and Anne D— , and this girl , after being forbidden to see him , died ot con-.. * . i i . _ i . * . « „ .. i , ^ ,. r im fpni' ^ ropfi tho t . wont . v-live dreaxv miles wuai ui - ¦ - —

    lie never Knew uy muu ,- , nu « •>> - » . >•• - * - which lav between him and the corpse of his beloved , but night had closed around the drinnine ' wonrv man ns he renched tho farmhouse where the body of Anno D— - lay . None of her rolntivos were present ns ho entered , and but few friends sat around , lie stood beside the dead one ' s head , and the long black lashes of the closed eyes resting unoii the pallid cheek , the shrunken features , and the worn look of her whom he had once thought so beautiful , fronv whom he had so recent y parted m all the b Iotj ol her youth , terrified him , and he gawd upon her but shed no tear . His faco of agony attracted the attention of tho . c- persons who had gathered by the coihn and as he ood beside its liwul , one (» 1 Anne's luili-sistors recognised him , cullwl him the imudeioi ol her sinter , and deinandod that he should be . thrust from the room . b

    At first lianim folt indignant at this cruel conduct , but suaueniy ne »»«»" : that if Anne had nuvorlovod him she might be then living happily ; had si e irv u met him she might bo jovoax and in . health-but now she vf . is « wreck ot hope , peace , of life- , and m-areely daring to look uju . n . hop , be tottered i ™™** ™^ . ^ Ll eaten nothing since the preceding clay , he felt nohunjer , J . U e « ton «^ « u ou _ house , sank iipon the wet straw ol a onr- » Ueil , and there , m ii stupoi t «^ i tinned until ho heard tho funeral guests assembling . . lie rose , re-entered the house , and being permitted to _ s | s jul bc « J » o . xi .. ¦ ¦ .. << i . ! o A ,,,, nCnr flmlnal tiinc > 11 . S the eoll 111-1 id UlCl H ioi ^\* - \ ,, , , , _ Ul iini % " — -

    IHUIIILU mo . v . . v . .. . . . ~ , - ; l . I . . .. .. Illl \ VUOI 1 ail 1 IU UVthe body to the churchyard , stood by as tho earth w . upijd uft ««« J first parted , oast himself upon tho fresh greo » l mound 1 at mu ke . ^ the fe love . Ho never could recollect where the night Buicceunifc . u * j

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Nov. 21, 1857, page 17, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_21111857/page/17/