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^^^^ sa ^^^^ sS ^ B i" ^ .-wJfn , fnr Want of the special excitement to sing , xne vey " »" S 4 a 8 o ^ instencX a ?{ strikes ^ key-note'of the predominating sentiment -. ¦ ' -. " " 'One whose heart a strangers tear might wear , . As water-drops the sandy fountain stone ; Who loved and pitied all things , and could moan For woes which others hear not , and could see The absent with the glass of phantasy , And near the poor and trampled sit and weep , Following the captive to his dungeon deep-One who was as a nerve o ' er which do creep The else-unfelt oppressions of this earth . '
" Such sympathy with his kind was evidently developed in him to an extraordinary and even morbid degree , at a period when the general intellectual powers it was impatient fco put in motion , were immature or deficient . " This is both truly and finely said , and , as applied to natures like Shelley ' s , admits of no qualification ; but with regard to more versatile and manysided natures , the same would not hold rigorously , unless the impulses of the moment , the moods and caprices , the jests and the despondencies which would necessarily vary their correspondence , were considered as not affecting the general and permanent mood . There are thoughtful and noteworthy passages in this Essay , some of which we shall quote elsewhere ; and all Shelley ' s admirers will thank Browning for his appreciation , with which , in the main , they will agree . Here is a passage worth pondering : —
" I conjecture , from a review of the various publications of Shelley ' s youth , that one of the causes of his failure at the outset was the peculiar practicalness of his mind , which was not without a determinate effect on his progress in theorizing . An ordinary youth , who turns his attention to similar subjects , discovers falsities , incongruities , and various points for amendment , and , in the natural advance of the purely critical spirit , unchecked by considerations of remedy , keeps up before his young eyes so many instances of the same error and wrong , that he finds himself unawares arrived at the startling conclusion , that all must be changed—M > r nothing : in the face of which plainly impossible achievement , he is apt ( looking perhaps a little more serious by the time he touches at the decisive issue , ) to feel , either carelessly or considerately , that his own attempting a single piece of service would be worse than useless even , and to refer the whole task to another age and person—safe in proportion to his incapacity .
" Wanting words to speak , he has never made a fool of himself by speaking . But ^ in , Shelley ' s case , the early fervour and power to see , was accompanied by as precocious a fertility to contrive : he endeavoured / to realize as he went on idealizing ; every wrong had simultaneously its remedy ; and , out of the strength oy hatred for the former , he took the strength of his confidence in the latte /—till suddenly he stood pledged to the defence of a set of miserable little expedients , just as if they represented great principles , and to an attack upon various great principles , . really so , without leaving himself time to examine whether , because they were antagonist ! cal to the remedy he had suggested , they must therefore be identical or even essentially connected with the wrong he sought to cure , — playing with blind passion into the hands of his enemies , and dashing at whatever red cloak was held forth to him , as the cause of the fireball he had last been stung with ^ mistaking Churchdom for Christianity , and for marriage , ' the sale of love ' and the law of sexual oppression .
" Gradually , however , he was leaving behind him this low practical dexterity , unable to keep up with his widening int ellectual perception ; and , in exact proportion as he did so , his true power strengthened and proved itself . Gradually he was raised above the contemplation of spots and the attempt at effacing them , to the great"Abstract Light , and , through the discrepancy of the creation , to the sufficiency of the First Cause . Gradually he was learning that the best way of removing abuses is to stand fast by truth . Truth is one , as they are manifold ; and innumerable negative effects are produced by the upholding of one positive principle . I shall say what I think , —had Shelley lived he would have finally ranged himself with the Christians : his very instinct for helping the weaker side ( if numbers make strength ) , his very 'hate of hate , ' which at first mistranslated
itself into delirious Queen Mab notes and the like , would have got clear-sighted by exercise . The preliminary step to following Christ , is the leaving the dead to bury their dead—not clamouring on His doctrine for an especial solution of difficulties which are referable to the general problem of the universe . Already he had attained to a profession of ' a worship to the Spirit of good within , which requires ( before it sends that inspiration forth , which impresses its likeness upon all it creates ) devoted and disinterested homage , as Coleridge says , '—and Paul likewise . And we find in one of his last exquisite fragments , avowedly a record of one of his own mornings and its experience , as it dawned on him at his soul and body ' s best in his boat on the Serchio—that as surely as " ' The stars burnt out in the pale blue air , And the thin white moon lay withering there—Day had kindled the dewy woods , And'the rocks above , and the stream bclovr , And the vapours in their multitudes , And the Appeuine ' s shroud of summer snow—Day had awakened all things that be ;' just so Buroly he tells uh ( tapping forward from this delicious dance-music , choragua-like , into the grander mc-amire befitting the final enunciation ) , " ' All robe to do the task He set to each , Who hhaj >< - <] us to hia ends and not our own ; The million rona to learn , nnd One to teach What none yet ever knew or can be kn . own . ' " No more difference than thiH , from Da ' vidTs pregnant concluHion so long ago ! " Meantime , n » I call Shelley a moral man , because lie waH true , flimplo-hearted , and brave , and because what ho acted corresponded to what ho knew , bo I call him ft . man of religious mind , became every audncioiiH negative cast up by him against tho Divine , was interpenetrated with a mood of reverence and adoration , and because I find him everywboro taking for granted Home of tho capital dogmas of Christianity , whilo most vehomently denying their hiHtorical basement . "
That Shelley was eminently a religious man—that lie was imbued with what we almost all call Christianity , understanding thereby an exaltation of our moral aspirations , and a belief in tho practicability of Goodness and
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Self-Sacrifice—is a fact as certain as ' . that Shelley lived ; but we altogether dissent from Browning's position , that Shelley would finally have ranged himself with the Christians , if by that be meant a recognition of the truth of that body of dogmas which theologians very properly insist upon as constituting Christianity . As he grew older , the antagonism which vexed his heart and obscured his intellect would assuredly have dwindled- he would have become more tolerant of speculative differences ; but he would not , we think , have learned , to see Truth in that creed fronqi which his mind had so thoroughly emancipated itself . Let us hear Browning on the predominating characteristic of Shelley as a poet : —
" This I call his simultaneous perception of Power and Love in the absolute and of Beauty and Good in the concrete , while he throws , from his poet ' s station between both , swifter , subtler , and more numerous films for the connexion of each with each , than have been thrown by any modern artificer of whom I have know ledge ; proving how , as he says , "' The spirit of the worm within the sod , In love and worship blends itself with God . * " I would rather consider Shelley ' s poetry as a sublime fragmentary essay towards a presentment of th * e correspondency of the universe to Deity , the natural to the spiritual , and of the actual to the ideal , than I would isolate and separately appraise the worth of many detachable portions which might be
acknowledged as utterly perfect in a lower moral point of view , under the mere conditions of art . It would be easy to take my stand on successful instances of objectivity in Shelley : there is the unrivalled Vend ; there is the Julian and Maddalo , too ; there is the magnificent Ode to Naples ; why not regard , it may be said , the less organised matter as the radiant elemental foam and solution , out of which would have peen evolved , eventually , creations as perfect even as those ? But I prefer to look for the highest attainment , ftot sjpiply the high , —and , seeing it , I hold by it . There is surely enough of the work ' Shelley' to be known enduringly among men , and , I believe , to be accepted of God , as human work may ; and around the imperfect proportions of such , the most elaborated productions of ordinary art must arrange themselves as inferior illustrations . "
The letters themselves are of interest solely because they were written by that pure and affectionate being , and as such , are welcome . But why does not Mr . Moxon publish that long and splendid letter sent from Italy on the occasion of Hiehard Carlile ' s trial P It was once in our possession , but we gave it up to be published by Mrs . Shelley , in the first collection of the Letters ; and we hoped to find it in this . Is Mr . Moxon afraid of it , or has he never seen it P We will conclude this slight notice with a charming passage : —
A TASTE FOB FLOWEBS . M reckon two advantages of a taste for flowers . The first is produced by the culture of them , whichT" since it excludes all wilfulness , haste , and impatience , quiets tjje mind , cheers it by ever-cherished hope , and , since this seldom deceives , gladdens it with quiet joy . But the second and chief advantage consists in thisthat every flower is in miniature the image of entire nature , and contains all its security , order , peace , and beauty . The flower unfolds itself silently according to necessary laws , and under necessary conditions ; and if those fail , it cannot flourish . Like a child upon the mother ' s bosom , so it hangs upon and sucks the sun and air , the earth and water ; it is but a part of the great whole of nature , from which it cannot live separated . It is fairest in blossom , but in every stage of development it has peculiar charms . How fair the tender plant , which creeps
forth to the light ! how lovely the juicy green ! how mysterious and full of intimations the swelling bud ? Some flowers are fairer than others , but only a few are odious , and none without some property . And how manifold their beauty Thereby they are the truest" image of nature , which spreads itself before our view in infinite variety , and thus unveils the unfathomable riches of the Creator . Partial florists may prefer the fragrant hyacinth , or the showy auricula , or the rich carnation , or any others ; but who can say which is fairer than the other ? and what feeling friend of nature will not love even the less fair ? All are the lovely children of nature ; and , as a mother fondly presses all her offspring to her heart , because she discovers in all the beloved features of the father , so the true lover of nature fondly embraces all she brings forth , because her life is exhibited
in all , however diverse . Who can say what colour of the rainbow is the fairest , since all are born from the same ray of light ? As nature is without evil , so are flowers the image of innocence and harmlessness , and the sight of them soothes and calms , like the countenance of a conscientious man , who is without reserve and guile . The abode of the first man , in his innocence , was a garden : in a garden , among the lovely children of spring , we again find paradise ; here we dream of the bliss of innocence , here soothe tumultuous desires , and a gentle longing fills the heart . The lake-rose swims and bathes in the moist element , which , fertilising , pervades the earth , and lifts up its crown to the sun , like a clear , calm eye . Who thus can swim in the fulness of universal life , washed pure from all selfishness , and thus look up , unshrinking , with pure eye ?
" Lovely , bright , radiant flowers ! are ye not like stars , which the Creator has scattered to illumine and adorn the dark earth ? Are ye not as heavenly messengers , who have come down upon tho sunbeams , to bring us tidings of a world in which all blooms in beauty , rapture , peace ? Therefore is it that the children , who , too , have come from heaven , and still retain thoir innocence , play with you so like sisters ; therefore is it that woman loves you , who bears in her feeling heart intimations of heaven ; therefore wo deck with you the graves of the beloved , bec ause you point upward , when they have gone to rest . "
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CREASY'S INVASIONS OF ENGLAND . The Invasions and Projected Invasions of England from the Saxon Times . With Remarks on the present Emergencies . By E . S . Creasy , M . A . Bcntlcy . A timely volume , carofull y compiled , and presenting an historical sketch which will bo very acceptable to tho debaters of this exciting topic . Mr . Creasy has chosen his subject and restricted himself to it . In the compilation of his narrative he has kept an open , eye to tho more recent historical works , at tho same time that ho has avoided all unnecessary parade . Except in some superfluous twaddle about tho linger of Providence said to be discernible in the accidents which thwarted alftho provious attempts at invasion , tho book is sensibly written .
Tho series commences with the Norman conquest , and a survey of our national defences in tho early years of our history . The attack ot Francis I . on the Isle of Wigfit , and tho ill-fatod Spanish Armada , aro considered next , and followed b y interesting pages on the Dutch in t * Medway , and our perils from France and America in the last century-
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206 THE LEADER . [ Saturoay ,
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Leader (1850-1860), Feb. 28, 1852, page 206, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1924/page/18/
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