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    No. 410, Janttary 30, 1858. j THE LEADER...

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    Me, too, had he prevail'd, he had not sc...

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    NEW NOVELS. The Three Chances. By the Au...

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    No. 410, Janttary 30, 1858. J The Leader...

    No . 410 , Janttary 30 , 1858 . j THE LEADER , 113 Precariouslruld bforei lords

    Me, Too, Had He Prevail'd, He Had Not Sc...

    Me , too , had he prevail'd , he had not scorn'd . Enough of this;—since then , I have maintain'd The sceptre—not remissly let it fall—And I am seated- on a prosperous throne : Yet still , for I conceal it not , ferments In the Messenian people what remains Of thy dead husband ' s faction ; vigorous once , Now crush'd but not quite lifeless by his fall . And these men look to thee , and from thy grief—Something too studiously , forgive me , shown—Infer thee their accomplice ; and they say That thon in secret nurturest up thy son , Him whom thou hiddest when thy husband fell , To avenge that fall , and bring them back to power Such are their hopes—I ask rot if by thee

    Willingly fed or no—their most vain hopes ; For I have kept conspiracy fast-chain'd Till now , and I have strength to chain it still . But , Merope , the years advance;—I stand Upon the threshold of old age , alone , Always in arms , always in face of foes . The long repressive attitude of rule Leaves me austerer , sterner , than I would ; Old age is more suspicious than the free And valiant heart of youth , or manhood's firm , Unclouded reason ; I would not decline Into a jealous tyrant , scourged with fears , Closing , in blood and gloom , his sullen reign . The cares which might in me with time , I feel , Beget a cruel temper , help me quell ; The breach between our parties help me close ; Assist me to rule mildly : let us join

    Our hands in solemn union , making friends Our factions with the friendship of their chiefs . Let us in marriage , King and Queen , unite Claims ever hostile else ; and set thy son—No more an exile fed on empty hopes , And to an unsubstantial title heir , But prince adopted by the will of power , And future king—before this people ' s eyes . Consider him ; consider not old hates : Consider , too , this people , who were dear "" .... To their dead king , thy husband—yea , too dear , . . ¦ . For that destroy'd him . Give them peace ; thou can ' st . O Merope , how " many noble thoughts , How many precious feelings of man ' s heart , How many loves , how many gratitudes . Do twenty years wear out , and see expire ! Shall they not wear one hatred out as well ? MEROPE . Thou hast forgot , then , who I am who hear , And who thou aft who speakest to me ? I Am Merope , thy murder'd master's wife . . And thou art Polyphonies , first his friend , And then . . . his murderer . These offending tears That murder draws .... this breach that thou would'st close Was by that murder open'd . . . that one child ( If still , indeed , he lives ) whom thou wouldst seat Upon a throne not thine to give , is heir Because thou slew ' st his brothers with their father . , . Who can patch union here ? . . . What can there be But everlasting horror 'twixt us two , Gulfs of estranging blood ? . . . Across that chasm Who can extend their hands ? . . . Maidens , take back These offerings home ! our rites are spoil'd to-day . I'OLYPHONTES . ' *" Not so : let these Messenian maidens mark The fear'd and blacken'd ruler of their race , Albeit with lips unapt to solf-excuse , Blow off the spot of murdor from his name . — Murder!—but what is murdor ? When a wretch For private gain or hatred takes a live . We call it murder , crush him , brand his name : But when , for some great public cause , an arm Is , without love or hate , austerely rais'd Against a Power exempt from common checks , Dangerous to all , to be but thus annull'd—* Ranks any man with murder such an act ? With grievous deeds , perhaps ; with murder—no ! Find then such cause , the charge of murder falls : Bo judge thyself if it abound not here , — All know how weak the Engle , Hercules , Soaring from his doath-pilo on CEta left His puny , callow Eaglets ) and what

    trials—Infirm protectors , dubious oracles Construed awry , miaplnnn'd invasions—us'd Two generations of his offspring up ; Hardly the third , with grievous loss , rcgain'd Their fathers' realm , this itilo , from Pelops nam'd . — Who made that triumph , though deferr'd secure ? Who , but the kinsmen of the royal brood Of ITorouloa , scarce Horncleidto less Than thoy ? those , and the Doriun lords , whoso king TEginiiua gave our outcust house a homo Whon Thebes , when Athens dnr'd not ; who in arma ¦ " _ -- ' _ ^ Thfic " o "' issftod " wtth '' UB-from T thclT"pnstorRl-vules ,- . ,- ~ - ^ - And shed thoir blood like water in our cause ?—Such were the dfsposaossors : of what stamp Wore thoy we disposaesscd ?—of us I apeak , Who to Mossonia with thy husband came—¦ I epoak not now of Argos , ivhoro h \ a brother , Not now of Snnrtu where his nophewa roign'd : — What wo found here wero tribes of fame obsCuro , Much turbulence , and littlu constnnoy ,

    y ' y gn From the iEolian stock of Neleus sprung , A house once great , now dwindling in its sons . Such were the conquer'd , such the conquerors : who Had most thy husband ' s confidence ? Consult His acts ; the wife he chose was—full of virtues—But an Arcadian princess , more akin To his new subjects than to us ; his friends Were the Messenian chiefs ; the laws he fratn'd Were aim'd at their promotion , our decline ; And , finally , this land , then half-subdued , Which from one central city ' s guarded seat As from a fastness in the rocks our scant Handful of Dorian conquerors might have curb'd , He parcell'd out in five confederate states , Sowing his victors thinly through them all , Mere prisoners , meant or not , among our foes . If this was fear of them , it sham'd the king : If jealousy of us , it sham'd the man . — Long we refrain'd ourselves , submitted long , Construed his acts indulgently , rever'd , Though found perverse , the blood of Hercules : Reluctantly the rest ; but , against all , One voice preach'd patience , and that voice was mine . At last it reach'd us , that "he , still mistrustful , Deeming , as tyrants deem , our silence hate , Unadulating grief conspiracy , Had to this city , Stenyclaros , call'd

    A general assemblage of the realm , With compact in that concourse to deliver , For death , his ancient to his new-made friends . Patience was thenceforth self-destru « tion . I , I his chief kinsman , I his pioneer And champion to the throne , I honouring most Of men the line of Hercules , preferr'd The many of that lineage to the one : What his foes dar'd not , I , his lover , dar'd : I , at that altar , where mid shouting crowds He sacrificed , our ruin in his heart , To Zeus , before he struck his blow , struck miue : Struck once , and aw'd his mob , and sav'd this realm . Murder let others call this , if they will ;

    I , self-defence and righteous execution . The quiet power of these lines needs no remark ; but with surprise we meet a line like- Soaring from his death pile on iEta , left . unrhythmical to licence ; and the phrase ' used up' a few lines lower is not onl y objectionable in style so elevated , but is so distributed as to produce a still worse effect- — used Two generations of his offspring up . Verbal criticism this , no doubt ; but in a work of such claims , criticism will be challenged to minutiae . We notice several verses with lax terminations , permissible on the stage , where the elocution covers such defects but not defensible in printed books ; such a line for instance as this—Shall we select ? than Polyphontes , what ( the very worst , indeed , we have noted ) is quite unworthy of Mr . Arnold's chastened style .

    . . . „ ., . Unless we could give several columns to the analysis of the various phases of the artistic evolution of the subject chosen by Mr . Arnold we could offer no intelligible criticism of his work . The plot might be told in a few lines , as , indeed , is the case with all Greek plays , but the poetic treatment cannot be thus summarily indicated . We content ourselves therefore with heartily recommending the work to the reader ' s careful perusal and reperusal , for it is in our opinion a work eminently deserving of such study : with some blemishes in the versification , and with what seems to us an initial error in the adoption of an obsolete form , obsolete because the conditions which originally determined it have passed away , it is noble and pathetic in conception , elevated and elevating in execution .

    New Novels. The Three Chances. By The Au...

    NEW NOVELS . The Three Chances . By the Authoress of' The Fair Carew . ' 8 vols . ( Smith , Elder , and Co . )—To the numerous idealizations of blindness and madness which crowd the literature of romance , the author of ' The Fair Carew ' has now added a hero whose attribute is deafness . Mr . Manley Frere , handsome , spiritual , opulent , and betrothed to a beauty , affirms that sight is a faculty scarcely so precious as that of hearing , and upon a particular morning wakes up to remark that his watch has ceased ticking . Nevertheless , while he moralizes upon the decay of an old companion , the hands continue to move ; to convince himself ho smites tho floor with a heavy chair , and to his sense the blow falls more softly than velvet ; he opens tho window ; the roller is passing noiselessly over the gravel ; tho thrush on a neighbouring branch is sitting songless ; tho reaper ' s scythe id as inaudible as that of death ; tho lattice opens and shuts without a creak : — " The dog leaped up but gave no yell , Tho wire was pulled , but woko no boll , Tho ghaatly knocker rose and fell ,

    But made no not : The ways of death , wo all know wall , Aro very quiot . " In--this-inBtance ,-it ~ is ™ deafness ~ and ^ nat _ doatta ^ ^^ Mr . Mnnloy Frero , enchants all creation into a horrible silence . Wo is worse than a shadowless man ; ho is a man without an echo ; ho cannot hear his own voice ; tho lady appointed to be his bride is consequently parted from him , through tho influence of her friends , and it is aatomaning what » n Iliad of dramatic melancholy ensues from the panuyais of tho hero ' s ear . This , thoTnorvo of tho story , runs through it , pulsing aomotimea whore it is not soon ; but the author does not wear out her invention . A

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Jan. 30, 1858, page 17, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_30011858/page/17/