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Leader (1850-1860), 25th August 1860, Edition 2 of 2, Page 8, * Tliv Book ,\f Vaaaboml* dint Jtci/tf<i...

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      • Leaveifrotn (He Olive Mount. Vctmi* By...

      tints , what it ought to be , symbolic . The heroine , Naamah , only too beautiful , has two cousins with whom she has grown up until her sixteenth year , " scarce knowing which , if either , she loved best . " To one of them , Wilfred , she is betrothed . But Wilfred has to leave her for awhile , bound in duty to carve out a fortune for himself and her . His brother Gabriel , owing to his physical weakness , is kept at home . JSTpw-Gabriel is a . poet , and soon infects poor Ifaamah with the delicious poison that , inspiration to him , was to her madness . Wilfred returns , to find himself bereaved of his promised bride . Yet he seeks not revenge ; but , desirous of his brother's happiness , surrenders Naamah to her new lover . The father , however , is indignant ; and , as he had never loved , the poor invalid Gabriel , whom he thought indolent , and whose merits he could not appreciate , exhausts his anger on the offending youth . Wilfred then travels into the Holy Land , bearing his cross willingly . Hence the title of the poem : —

      "In my heart I hold it dear , this sacred Passion Flower . ! My mother taught me as a child to trace Within , its cup the cross and crown of thorns , Which one day must be borne by all who live . " But what of Gabriel and Naamah ? They , too , have their Cross . They feel that they both have Sinned . Naamah interprets her fault severely . Consciousness of it makes her compassionate towards others . Hence : — - " She deemed it not reproach to stand alone , As Christ stood , with the wretched and the vile , And pleadHis promises of better life . ISTor scorn , ndr chaste reproof upon her lip , ¦ But beaming through the tears in her mild eyes Compassion lowly , tender , womanly , Qffc would shetake within her own the hand Of some poor erring sister , bowed to earth , With sense of wrong arid hopeless misery ; Oft wouldshe kneel , beside her , flushed with zeal , Affectionate , and in heart-SQothing tones ( All strange to such forlorn one ) bid her trust InHun , ' who > wrote upon the ground , ' whose words ( Amid the cruel and bloodthirsty throng , Fiends panting for their prey ) struck awe and shaino Into each coward self-accuaing heart—^ c Let him that has not sinned , first cast a stone !' - . Not onej but all have erred I in secret some—And some in open day- ^ -and nought of guilt , Whether of thought or deedj is hid from God , _ ~ Who reads the heart . " \ The dramatic propriety of this is evident . It reminds us of th question put by Lear to Glo ' ster :- ^ - •' Hast thou given all To thy unkind daughters ? And is it come to this ?'

      But we must hasten to the close of this melancholy lay . Wilfred having succeeded in winning his father to pardon the young couple , proposes to return , and all is expectation of happier days . But a storm arises , and he is drowned in sight of shore . His corpse is brought to Gabriel , who bends ^ over it in incurable wste & w : 8 o ~ deep ^~ Ms ~ dt ; spairp ^ hafe ^^ relents into tenderness . But his own is fatally smitten . Naamah , becomes a widow—but also a mother ; and in her child finds the consolation that she needs for her sin-born sorrow . All this is finely conceived , and beautifully executed .

      The remaining poems are chiefly lyrical . J-hey breathe a devout and religious spirit , and are for the most part elegantly versified . She has looked , too , into the deep places of the soul , and appears to have had experiences of suffering , however favourably placed she may have been in society , and to have learned the lessons of patience and resignation that such experiences always teach . That she has , moreover , been a sedulous and critical reader of the Bible is manifest , and has derived therefrom a vigour of style and imagery , and a power of natural description , mingled with elevated sentiment , which distinguishes her poetry from the monotonous mediocrity with which the press almost daily teems . We wish her every success .

      752 The Saturday Analyst And Leader. [Au...

      752 The Saturday Analyst and Leader . [ Aug . 25 , 1860

      Mr. Albert Smith's Wild Oats, &O* We Hav...

      MR . ALBERT SMITH'S WILD OATS , & o * WE havo before us a book of odds and ends , from tho able pen of the late Albert Smith . This volume , which comprises several original stories , a number of poems , some translations , some parodies upon eminent English poots , and a collection of stray chapters upon a yarioty of subjects , is now issued to the publio under the superintendence of tho author ' s brothor , Mr . Arthur Smith . Interesting as thoy aro in thomselvos from tho brilliancy and vivacity of tho writing , these " Wild Oats and

      Dead Leaves " ( such being the appropnato title given to this colieotion-oilscu'aps-naid-anatokc &^ arfl ^ melancholy circumstances which attended tho death of one of our most popular humourists and successful caterers for public amusoniont . The author informs us in his prefaoo that ' tho stray leaves which oomposo tho presont volume wore his earliest essays in magazine writing , and that in thorn no attempt will bo found to " alter existing institutions , advanoo progross , or provide intellectual food for ' tho masses . " Believing that " of ovory dozen people who take up a book , cloven do so for amusement , " ho

      wisely enlists his talents in the service of the majority . Agreeably with this resolution the author commences his volume with three entertaining stories ( evidently intended for the edification of juvenile readers ) , which he calls " Thefts from the Percy B > eliques , " and in each of which the mystical King Arthur and "his fair Queen , Guinevere ; nourish in good old EngKsh fashion . Of course these stories all contain appropriate morals ,, which the author , at the termination of each fictitious harangue , most satisfactorily elucidates for the benefit of all who ' niayneed enlightenment upon the subject . In the first of these legends , designated by our author " The Boy and the Mantle , " a quaint old gentleman , of dwarf-like dimensions , suddenly makes his appearance before King Arthur , the knights of the Round Table , and all the assembled lords and ladies of the court . This eccentric personage presents to the king a mantle , possessed of the wonderful capacity of adapting itself to all sorts of shapes and sizes ; this , he assures the female portion of the company , no lady who is not « ' true of heart to her liege lord" will be able to fit appropriately to her person . The experiment is tried by all the ladies in succession , commencing Avith the queen , but in every instance proves unsuccessful ; the triumph is ultimately reserved for the gentle Lady Rose Caradoc , who , says the chronicler , " bore her honours very meekly , " and thereby enhanced herself considerably m her husrband ' s esteem . The " author winds up by telling us that the mantle was simpty " the embodiment of an easy conscience ., which , whatever external appearances might be , would not accommodate itself in anywise to frames in which guilt and deception lurked . " We have then two or three smart chapters upon " ghosts and prodigies , " followed by a most amusing description of a " Go-ahead Day with Barnum . " m ' ' Further on in the volume we find a clever parody on lennyson ' s celebrated poem of the " May Queen . " Grieved as we , and all true lovers of poetry , must be to see this really beautiful composition perverted into a mere vehicle for showing off the talents of burlesque writers , yet the manner in which Mr . Smith has executed this little bit of innocent caricature will with the public swerve as his best apology . But , perhaps , the funniest chapters in the book are those relating to the adventures or -Mr . Straggles . The author here tells us , in ludicrous language , how Mn Straggles went cheap to Ascot , liow Mr . Straggles ate whitebait at Greenwich , and how Mr . Straggles did a variety ol other things , for the full particulars of which we refer the reader to the papers themselves . The book-winds up with a new translation of Burger ' s celebrated poem , . " Lenora , " m which the . - versifying talents of Mr . Smith appear to advantage . In rendering the sense-rechoing words of the original , he is happy , - Take a stanza : — . ' ¦/ .. ¦ v .. ¦¦' . ¦ - ' ' - ¦ .... . ¦ ' .. ' / . ¦' ¦ " Hush ! listen I listen ! tramp—tramp- ~ tramp ! A courser ' s steps she counted , The rider next , with clattering stamp , Before the porch dismounted . And listen ! at the gate , a ring , Sounds faintly- —softly—kling—ling—ling ! And then came through the portal , Thes 6 words , distinctly mortal . " .. ¦ Thn noxf . work on our list is " The Bushranger ; or , Mark Brandon the Convict , '' a work written with a view to the correction of any erroneous notion which might have gained ground in this country relative to the treatment of our convicts abroad ; namely , " that transportation to our penal settlements is not to be looked upon in the light of a punishment , but rather as a desirable change of country , where every leniency is shown to the criminal , and every facility afforded himboth lor the acquisition of large fortune , and the retrieval of his lost character . " It is easy to unr derstand how , with a certain class of socioty , an assumption ot this kind would act as a stimulant to evil actions , and be the sourco of much ultimate mischief and confusion . The present story was intended as a refutation of the popular fallacy . ; and m our estimation Mi-. Rowcrpft has troated his subject in the most able raannor , and completely succeeded in setting at rest the question in dispute . The history of Mark Brandon , the convict , and hero of tho book , is a sufficient illustration of the punisumont , suffering , and remorse , whioh invariably follow the commission of groat crimes , and from which a life in the penal settlements is by no means calculated to exempt us . The author possesses considerable power of language , and his description ol life in the busli must havo forcibly aroused tho interest ol even tho most indifferent of readers . Tudoed , "Mark Brandon' possesses a reality and zest in its various descriptions of early Australian life and scenery which is not always to be found in novels ot ua class ,

      * Wild Oat.1 And Dmul Leaves, Lly Amikht...

      * Wild Oat . 1 and Dmul Leaves , lly Amikht Hmitii . hoililon : Chaiiiiiiiu and IUII . The liitnhruin / er ; or , Mark flranttoH the Convict , lly Charles Jtoweroft , Vm \ ., author of " TnloH In Ua > CoIimiIoh , " London : TluunnH HoduHon .

      The Book Of Vagabonds And Becigaks.* Thi...

      THE BOOK OF VAGABONDS AND BECIGAKS . * This curious and interesting- tract has been most carefully edited ~ liy ~ 3 HK"insttfcn 7 ^^ ti ' onH n . s lie does tustc in the production of his books . In hw "M 1 ' 0 " duetiou he cntors into a learned diKsertation on tho history ot vagabondism , a subject he has previously illustrated in his " I > ictionary of Cant Words . " Ho rightly attributes the jprwit spread ol , boi # r « ry to the extension of the mendicant portion of tho uoelesiiw j ¦ ticnl Hv ' atem , and shows that at tho time of the Keformation it Inia reached its anno . The Germans in this , n » in all other matter * ,

      * Tliv Book ,\F Vaaaboml* Dint Jtci/Tf<I...

      * Tliv Book , \ f Vaaaboml * dint Jtci / tf < ir * , with < i Vocabulary of their La '" J "'' K K . lUvd by Alnrtln Luther , tu tlio Year IMP . Sow 11 m trmiHlntcrt Into KiikHuIi , «»« Intfwiliiutlon and NotoH , liv John C ' nmUcn llottoii . Lomlon : J . 0 . HottOH .

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Aug. 25, 1860, page 8, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_25081860/page/8/