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    of mB W IfiABB^ [No. 327,, SATtTRBAgg.

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    GABRIEL. Gabriel. By Bessie Rayner Parke...

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    Memoirs Op Doctors Waudlaw And Kitto. Me...

    ¦ jbtt . ^ WardliW Belonged to ihe iect the Cqngregationaltsts or Independent , >* be descendants of the old Covenanters , and the forerunners of . * ho 3 « i £ eperatiat 8 , who , about twelve or fourteen ye ^ s ^ ago ^ took umbrage at the interference of Government jn their church ^ affairs , threw , up their U ^ ii « sm ^ iB « n » t , jnur endeavoured to persuade * he whole body of the t »« rtVcl « rcv oiB ^ tlaad toUollow their exam ple . Me -k « pt aloof for some Eme from the eoriflict , but * t length , when his personal feeling * were pver-«« ioe ihrewhiraBelf into it with characteristic energy . ¦»• I have long re-Msrfie ^^ -ite writes -to a ifriend , " religious establishments ( or rather I would cafPtfiem civil establishments of religion ) as equally at variance with the principles of the spiritual kingdom of Christ and with the simplest elements ^ ndntical iustice . Iro m the political injustice which they involve , the

    . dissenting bodies of the United Kin , gdom , constituting now so very large a proportion of its inhabitants , are-entitled to be freed ; and I am persuaded | he time is not distant when , by fair , dispassionate , peaceful , constitutional means , connected with the , force . of truth and the progress of public opinion , tbey will be freed . - . - And another thing is not less clear as a jrr ** ci » i <; : than thrums a Jfett , that , in the bringing of the resources and <^ rgw of ^ Christianity into practical use for the support and advancement < jf 4 ier'm * erest 8 , nW should be voluntary , the free result and expression , on the part < of those who believe her doctrines , of attachment and principle . " in addition to ^ hese disputes between the Church establishment and the Voluntary system , Dr . Wardlaw entered warmly into other polemical and iheoLagical controversies . Into itihese controversies we are not about to

    ^ ntfif On bis first entrance into public life , Dr . Wardlaw had no fixed place of residence , but was an itinerant preacher . Whilst still a young man he OTsited Kirkcudbright on some mission business . "On arriving , " he tells us , ¦** ££ asked the ostler at the inn if he thought I could have a congregation gatiMVed . fie stared in amazement when I said , ' I am quite in earnest ; « appose I % ada ^ chair placed here , do you think I could have a congregation ¥ ' Chi aye ; ' he replied , ' for religion is a great deal thocht o' in this jplace . * The bellman was sent through , and in about an hour I preached to ^ very attentive and excelient congregation . " ' This . is not the only anecdote told of Dr . Wardlaw . Mr . Wardlaw , as he "was at the time called , was on a tour-through the north of Scotland , and was

    -i » y < Bo means strictly clerical in his costume , but wore top-boots and other ^ articles of dress corresponding to the necessities of a journey on horseback . 33 ub circumstance , added to the remarkably elegant appearance of the preacher , xaftier Gambled the faith of Mrs . M- *— , one of the old school . Site slooked > wonders as she saw the young minister ascend the pulpit stairs ; ^ feet as he-entered -on his subject she was seen to become most grave and ^ attentive . ^ Wben he imd finished his discourse , she looked round to Mrs . i S- — -r , & person of au exceedingly different cast of mind , and exclaimed , * Owoman ! was lia ' that agreat sermon for sich a young man ? But , oh ! faei ' s < 5 * er braw and o er bonny I" "O ' er 1 > raw ? " replied Mrs . S . u Fat ^ sign ifies a manVclaes , if . there be plenty tf furniture in ' s mind . And to £ nd faw't with the dear young man because he ' s bonny , is something very anuch like a reflexion on the Creator himsel ' . "

    Dr . Wardlawte reputation as an ethical teacher was not confined to North 3 Bf ? t » wi . When the council of the London University , an institution which hn & just been established , were occupied in filling the different chairs in the college , be received ft request from Zacbary Macaulay , one of the council , * o aHow himself to be named for the chair of Mental and Moral Philosophy . "This post ; however , lie declined , in consideration of his oilier duties . From « gris'time to his death he kept on the even tenour of his way , preaching and ^ discussingand in constant communication with learned theologians .

    , The name of Dr . l £ itto has long been known in connexion with his " Pic--torial Bible , " " The Journal of Sacred Literature , " and " The Lost Senses" ; but it remained for the publication of his Memoirs to give us an insight into ; the early struggles of the man , and the origin of the works he undertook . J ? ew men have struggled against greater obstacles in the attainment of knowledge than did the Doctor in his early years . There is something truly rgreat in that exquisite thirst forjcnowledge , to gratify which the severest sacrifices * are made . The mind of Dr . Kitto , even whilst a boy , was so constituted

    * hat it required libraries to satisfy its cravings . " From the first awakening of hfs mental faculties , " we aro told , "John Kitto ' s aprirae anxiety was to procure bookB either by purchase or loan . If ho heard of a book in a neighbour ' s 'house , -whether the owner waa known to him or not , he had no rest -and gave no rest till he got hold of it ; and be seldom had much difficulty in obtaining any volume after his grandmother had guaranteed its safe return . " After he bad become deaf and the books of his neighbours had been ox-Aurasted , when halfpennies had become scarce and could only be obtained by his own exertions , he was obliged , in order to raise funds for the purchase of books , to adopt different expedients , of which the following one is narj nrted by Mr . JRyland :

    At'the port of P ! yBrouth , Tno 9 t of the trading vessels , particularly those of the class ¦ caBed "fishing trawlen ) , * ' discharged their cargoes in a harbour or basin called Sutton-Porfc . Athrrr watery » great part of this was converted into a sort cf swamp of soft black mire , Tendered more intensely fetid by the influx of the town drainage , in which boys were accustomed to grope and wade , sometimes above their knees in the deepest parts , in search of bits of ropo and yarn , or old iron . A pound of either of the former . articles uied t « -feteh one halfpenny , and three pounds of the latter a penny . Sorno -clever hands ,, unchecked in those days by a watchful police , would gain as much as threepence'a day , but Klttd * s weekly pToflts never but once amounted to fourpenco .

    . , J & ut . Qua did . not last . long . , ' , 'iStf . the time ha had acquired some dexterity in the employment , an accident forced 3 u 2 | f < wea ^ t about for aom « other , way of making a penny . One duy he trod upou a 3 > rokeib ! 3 > otUe , and « o injured his foot as to be kept at home some weeks . HWrng . tbb . period , however , he procured himself reading-money by iHUnfiufj , | foit il ' ltiwi in water colours . and selling them for a halfpermy apiece . J & is . not ournttrpoafi to follow . his career of misfortune , to trace him through tiie workhouse to itibe workhouse apprentice , nor even to accompany him Cotter he & ad , obtain ^ iirianda , became a compositor , then missionary , and JUWIDXV , Wfe ^ inccrelrir ^ gret -that the efforts or his literary exertions should -UttWl Ietfc fiini in his old age dependent on the sympathy of the public , and

    that when his country came to his rescue only a miserable annuity of 100 Z could be allowed him by the . Government . ' When will this national disgrace be removed ? For the particulars of his life— -his early struggles , his travels and h * after-trials—we send our readers . to the volume of his Memoirs , the ' materials of which we must confess have not been put together by a judicious hand The editor has spared himself much trouble by allowing the correspondence to narrate the events of I > r . Kitto's life ; but he would have done greater justice to hi 3 subject had he adopted a system of compression . We have also to protest against the awkward and unwieldy form of the book itself . "We do not think that scarlet covers , hot-pressing , gilt edges , or sumptuous lettering , add one jot or one tittle to the positive value of any work . But we do think , that when a book is deemed worthy of publication , it should be presented to the reading world in a readable shape . Dr . Wardlaw has found a more capable editor and judicious publisher .

    Of Mb W Ifiabb^ [No. 327,, Satttrbagg.

    of mB W IfiABB ^ [ No . 327 ,, SATtTRBAgg .

    Gabriel. Gabriel. By Bessie Rayner Parke...

    GABRIEL . Gabriel . By Bessie Rayner Parkea . London : Chapman . " To a Grave in Rome , to an Immortal Fame in England , and to one who Loves and Honours the Genius of Percy Bysshe Shelley , " is the dedication of a poem , or collection of poems , bearing the title of Gabriel . In this way , the uninitiated are informed of the dramatic intention of the book ; though it would not be difficult for those who are acquainted with the life of the poet of the Cenci to perceive , even without this intimation , who and what are shadowed forth under the name of the great Jewish Archangel . Shelley typified himself as Ariel ; Miss Parkes chooses to regard him as Gabriel : and there was that in his subtle , gorgeous , and evanescent genius ,

    and in his angelic nature , which justifies both designations . The world is onlv now beginning to wake from the blind , sottish prejudice which reviled and persecuted Shelley ; and , as that prejudice has not yet entirely departed , but occasionally howls or grunts forth from dark and miry places , it is a brave and noble thing in a young lady thus to come forward into the daylight , and to sing a panegyric on the genius and goodness of the dead poet a panegyric of which we are sure Shelley would have been proud . The poem before-us is written in so dark and veiled a manner , that we may as well state plainly the fiction which is supposed to run through it , lest

    it be misinterpreted by those who are not well versed in the facts of Shelley ' s life . The reader ( though Miss Parkes does not care to tell him so ) is to regard the whole poem as written by the late Mrs . Shelley , with the exception of those short lyrics , few in number , which are signed by the name of Gabriel , and are therefore , dramatically speaking , Shelley ' s . We are thus presented -with a sort of panorama of Mrs . Shelley ' s life , from her first meeting with the poet down to the storm which robbed her of a husband and the world ef a noble genius . And in this panorama we have the streets of London , where the lad Shelley always pined and drooped , like a

    bird in a hot cage ; the green and golden glooms of the Buckinghamshire beeches , among which he dwelled tiU persecution drove him forth ; the wild Welsh seashore which he visited ; the flushed , etherial beauty of Italy , into which he grew as into his proper sphere ; and lastly the fatal ocean m which he died . - , * ., Miss Parkes has brought to this high theme a degree of poetical feeling and expression which speak well for her literary future if she will consent to do herself justice by patience and labour , devotion and self-sacrifice . She has the true , unmistakable elements of poetry ; imagination and fancy passion and sympathy , thought and intellectual subtlety , and ( which is perhaps equal to all ) that keen , spiritual sensitiveness which feels all those quickly vanishing , yet most potent , influences which lie at the core of things —that exquisiteness of perception which apprehends all the delicate vibrations in the very [ atmosphere of emotion , as the mimosa of the American prairies feels the approach of the yet distant horseman . Her descriptions l her metres various and musicaland her

    of natural scenery are beautifu ; ; powers of reflection far beyond those of the majority of "latter-day poets . It is because of these really fine qualities that we are the more desirous of pointing out to her what we conceive to be her faults . If we might hazard a guess , we should judge that Miss Parkes is too generally contented with the first words which suggest themselves to her thoughts . Wenee ensues incompleteness of result , where the intention has perhaps been excellent : hence difnuenoss , " wordiness , " excess of epithets , weakness whore there should be continuous strength , a sudden jar where there should be an even flow of calm and confident harmony , flaws and abrupt angularities where , judging from the author ' s powers , we have a right to expect ( and with some additional labour might have had ) a shapely sphere , smooth ana perfect as an ivory bnil . Hence , also , obscurity ; for it seems to us that Miss Parkes often compromises or obliterates her meaning by inattention to the ordinary rules of compoaition . There are passages in her book wncft appear to be defiant of all received methods of expression , and others whicu for no apparent purpose , jar against the laws of metre ; as , for » lt ! " ? ' where she makes " genius" a tnoyllahhi , and when ahe writes thus painfully

    baiting line : — , im diving him mine own life and mine own breatn . And why should Mhs Parkes introduce the cant word » queer" into serious poetry ? And why should ahe adopt the clumsy contrivance , pwv »™; "J » last century , of uainfi adjectives adverbially—as , " till g radual rose , « tc iwfault of which we complain—namely , want of completeness—w , wo know , not uncommonly found in books of poems , and indeed there arc manyyciy noble worka whioh have been left by their authors in original roug mess , but the best chance for endurance lies with that production which muJ 10-ceived the most lubour , and which cornea forth with the fewest iinperieeuoiw . A rtanza at pa « e * 1 of Miss Parkes '* book will exhibit , in the compass 01 a few lines , heriUtic * l excellencies and defects . The thought is subty true , and the expression is eqiml to the thought , with tho exception < rt t « c third line , which ia commonpluco , and injures tho effect of the whole . Times there are when the epirit hanga 'Over a , aulf as deep as death ,

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), June 28, 1856, page 18, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_28061856/page/18/