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    Habch 28,1857] THE LEADER, 305

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    LATTER-BAY POETRY. The Lai/ of the Stork...

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    A Heavy-Armed G-Rammarian. Modern Englis...

    pencil-marks of his disapprobation . Under the head " Mannerisms" he disposes of characteristics generally . As an oration by Fox corrected by a modern elocutionist , so , -we think , might be an Essay by Carlyle corrected by the new grammarian . He would rearrange the words , he would harmonise the pauses , he would round off the emphatic lines , and produce a very proper theme , precise , accurate , unreadable . Mr . Breen attributes a habit of correct- ness to the majority of French writers . The majority of English critics acquainted with French literature would differ from him ; a fault of style , he says , is at once detected by the commonest French reader . Then what is style , or rather what is a good style ? N " ot Sydney Smith ' s , because he sometimes repeats a proposition unnecessarily ; not Hallam's , because a wrong word has run from his pen ; not Carlyle ' s , because he has not anticipated Mr . ' Breen ' s objections ; not Macaulay ' s or Gibbon ' s . Mr . Breen , however , i has fallen into one grievous mistake . Few of the writers he has attacked were ever supposed to have produced models of composition . Sir Archibald Alison , it is agreed on all hands , is a vast , rapid , random compiler ; the < elder Disraeli is quoted for his anecdotes and observations only . Dr . Latham is a useful philologist , but why drag him into court to criminate himself in an affair of literary art with which he has nothing to do ? Who ' is Harrison , who Walker ? What nonsense to talk of Blair ! We beg all the Breens to leave Mr . Jexdan out of the question . When Mr . Breen comes to acknowledged writers , he is less , successful in his demonstrations , though scarcely less triumphant in his tone . How would he improve Hallam ' s phrase " religious and grammatical learning go hand in hand . " He will , perhaps , find it easier to sport with Gilfillan and others of that denomination . But he assails Ossian . " I strike the harp in praise of Bragela , she that I left in the Isle of Mist ; " " Let me awake the King of Morven , he that smiles in danger , he that is like the sun of heaven , rising in a storm . " We should not wonder were Mr . Breen to propose " Allow me to awaken the King of Morven , a person who smiles in danger . " We may note one or two passages to which Mr . Breen objects , as examples of the pedantry winch he would import into English literature : — " A "working inan is more worthy of honour than a titled plunderer who lives in idleness "—Cobbext : JZnglishGrammar . As if a man could not plunder and live , nevertheless in idleness . The mediaeval barons , who sent out their mercenaries to ravage the land round their castles , were they not plunderers and idle ? Mr . Breen then picks up some Mr . Gatty , and pillories him for writing nonsense . But he revels chiefly in the works of Sir Archibald Alison , whose writings he may plough at pleasure . When he quotes Buffon , however , he ; should quote him correctly , ' and . not attribute to him such a sentence as " Lie style c ' est' l'homme , " which . Xu ' ffon never wrote . But the reader is waiting for specimens . This is Mr . . 3 reen himself , pure and simple : — Not only is the language , as -written and spoken , a different language from what it should be : each trade , each profession , each association , each quackery-, has a language arid style of composition peculiar to itself . There is the mob-orator style invented by O'Connell ; the knock-down style by Robins ; the washy style by Rowland ; the unctuous style by Holloway ; the glossy style by Day and Martin ; and the patchwork style by Moses and Sou . There is , moreover , the naval style , the military style , the theatrical style , the Cockney style , the snob style , and the pennya-line style . The intelligent reader is sufficiently acquainted with the Protean forms iu which our excellent mother-tongue delights to disguise herself , and it is unnecessary to quote examples . Quite unnecessary . Mr . Breen is next severe upon his contemporaries : — Criticism has long ceased to be a separate province in the republic of letters . It is now parcelled out indiscriminately to every pretender , of whatever coterie or creed ; and there is scarcely a . newspaper in the kingdom that does not assert and exercise its right to review the literature of the day . The consequence is , that literary partisanship , which was confined at first to our great critical organs , pervades almost every branch of journalism at the present hour . One newspaper gives a favourable account of a book because it has received an advertisement from the author ; another , because it has received none , declines to notice it . A third will eulogize it because it comes out under the patronage of a certain publishing firm ; a fourth , for the same reason , will cry it down . Where there is no particular motive of interest to form or guide the reviewer ' s judgment , lie contents himself with adopting the first notice that comes in his way . Some journal of weight originates an opinion respecting the new work ; and the minor reviewer ,, without giving himself the trouble to read the book , adopts that opinion with such alterations as maybe necessary to make it tally with the known principles of his journal . Should there bo any gross errors , any palpable blunders , in the original notice , they are copied without suspicion of their existence , and often go ^ the round of the press without detection . Because a tenth-rate print passes one opinion on a certain hook , and the Athenceum passes another , criticism is worthless ! Mr . Brecn ' anecdotes , in connexion with this subject , are singularly stale an < l scanty . Jeffrey described the Excursion as a . hubbub of ravings and incongruities . Wilson thought , or said , that the music of the Pleasures of Hope was caught from heaven , and that Miss Baillie ' s tragedies surpassed those of iUsehyluB . Hazlitt talked of Byron ' s ttramus as gossamers , and of Moore ' s wild Irish harp as a musical snuff-box . Coleridge described the head of Mackintosh as an empty warehouse to l « t ; and what then ? A more pretentious and a more commonplace book than this by Mr . Breen we have not often m « fc with .

    Habch 28,1857] The Leader, 305

    Habch 28 , 1857 ] THE LEADER , 305

    Latter-Bay Poetry. The Lai/ Of The Stork...

    LATTER-BAY POETRY . The Lai / of the Stork , By Miss Louisa Stuart Costcllo . ( W , and F . G . Cash . )—We owe our rentiers sonic apology for not ere now noticing this pleasant little tale in verse . Whoever is fond of a romantic story , somewhat rosc-hued in the matter of sentiment , told in flowing verse , that murmurs through its cadences like the voice of a lady singing to her guitar —whoever values poetry in . proportion us it is non-cxciLing , and appeals rather to the taste than to the intellect or the emotions—whoever is pleased to road of valorous youths and fascinating maidens in a stylo which varies between Thomas Moore and Sir Walter Scott—will be charmed with the elegantly printed and gracefully written volume before us . If , indeed , we

    : : were disposed to he severely critical , we might make some objections . We might stipulate for greater condensation and more power ; we might object to the frequent obscurities into which Miss Gostello's apparent facility of composition leads her ; and we might show how that excess of luscious languor which seems to be inseparable from the Hibernian Muse becomes fatiguing after a time . But we choose to regard the poem as a contribution to those idle hours of mental unbending during which the poet Gray desired to lie upon a sofa , reading endless new novels of Marivaux and Crebillon ; and in such moments the reader will be well pleased with Miss Costello ' s- drowsy pictures of the Rhine-land and the-warm , palm-shadowed East , and with her descriptions of the migrations of storks from , climate to climate . The story on -which , the authoress has built her poem , is very singular , and is thus narrated in her Introduction : — A young German , lady of eighteen , had a fancy , a few years ago , to discover to what region the storks repaired on quitting a northern climate , and for that purpose attached to the neck of a tame one a letter , in which she begged for an answer from whoever found it , informing her of the place where the bird alighted , and any other particulars attending it . The bird was shot by an Arab , in Syria , and her letter , copi « d by him , without understanding its language or import , was sent to the Prussian Vice-consul , at Bey rout , who courteously addressed the desired communication to th « young lady . Into this slight fabric Miss Costello has wcaved a tale of the Russian war , introducing Miss Nightingale in the person of the young German lady , and giving her a martial lover , who is an Arab by birth and half by blood , but who on his father ' s side is heir to certain estates in Germany . The complexion of the story , however , is rather mediaeval than modern . Here is a passage descriptive of the flight of the storks , which is delicately and vividly touched : — - " Hold , gondolier ! what streaks of white Mark the canal with waving lines ? Is-it-the rising sun , ' more bright , ¦¦ That o ' er awakening Venice shines ? It flashes , vanishes—too soon-r-That meteor on the blue lagoon . Ah ! now I know—I see them fly—ThestOTks!—the storks are passing by . " Not even Venice tempts to stay : St . Mark ' s gold domes fade fast away , Fade all the rose-hued palace towera Of fairy fret-work , all the aisles , And left , amidst her roofs of flowers , Alone , fair Venice sits and smiles . Where a bright Asian city lies , As if by genii planted there , To dazzle Europe ' s wondering eyes With , all the East can boast of rare , Gleaming , two silver seas between , And guarding both , with lofty mien—There pause awhile the winged band , Their ranks , as if by chiefs , review'd , — In groups they form—await command , - —The word is given— -the fight renew'd . Queen Lccta ani the Mistletoe : a Fairy R / tj / mefor the Fireside . By George Halse . With Illustrations on Steel by the Author . ( Addey and Co ) . —This is & Christmas trifle , written in a true Christmas holiday spirit , and treating of the mystic mistletoe and the fair ones under it ( the right women in the right place ) , and of certain gentle fays who haunted a genial fireside , and worked a charm by which an orphan girl and a disappointed young student found solace in mutual love ; also of the origin of the delectable rites—or rights—attached to the Druidical plant . The stjle of this poem is pometimes a little too much like that of the good fairies in Christmas show-pieces ; but Mr . Halse has real fancy and feeling , as the following extract will show : — ' Those fairies were not such as sing and sleep Whole days in kingcups and the lily-bell;—That chase the labouring honey-bee , or keep Guard over dewdropa in the shady dell;— - That smooth tho ruffled feathers in the lireost Of their companion , llobin , gaily drest ; — Nor like those fays that watch by fountain-side j—Nor those that revel on a moonlight night , Dancing round mushrooms;—nor like those that rido On a bat ' s woolly back;—nor those that fright Bewildered butterflies from underneath Dock-leaves far-spreading , or tlie shadowy heath;—Nor such as gem the spider's wob with dew , And guide to fertile spots the feathered seeds;—Nor those whose task 'Us nightly to renow The faded verdure of the pasture meads , And build again the fungus , white or dun , [ Between the setting and tho rising sun .

    These were the genial spirits of tho Hearth , Wakeful and watchful , consecrate to home ; The harbingers of concord and of mirth ; Endowed with wings , and yet forbid to roam . —If they neglect their trust , and take to flight , Their wings muy on the instant fade outright ! The author ' s illustrations arc very shadowy and elfish ; caught , as it were , out of n lund of vapoury moonshine . Q arlunds of Verse . By Thomas Leigh . ( Smith , Elder , and Co ) . —There is a deficiency of vital force and warm colouring in this volume ; but the writer has a genuine vein of quiet and rather sad meditation , softened by a tender religious feeling , yet not wanting in sympathy with humanity audits earthly home , and always generous and noble in its aspirations . We quote two poems on the world to come , with the feeling expressed in which we entirely agree : —

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), March 28, 1857, page 17, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_28031857/page/17/