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Leader (1850-1860), 10th January 1857, Edition 1 of 2, Page 42

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      Georgian * greatness explained by- Thackeray ; it is useful , in default of a Thackeray or a Suetorrras * hi the fiehi ; to harveDr : Boran . "bowling at the trnrioiirtedi ami telling us to listen totfre ' echoes from those hollow heads ! Ttte servility of the whole Christian world , for eighteen hundred years , has only Been able to pick out twentyr monarchs fit for canonization ; of these , some are more tfian Half apocryphal , as Lucius of England ; others are shadows , as ESesbaaa of- Ethiopia ; Sigisnxund ^ the saint of Burgundy , was a murderer . ; .: and . it was not ; discovered that . Joan of Orleans deserved an apo * bse >« is until two liandred yeaca after her death . Of the British sovereigns who : abdkated * . or- were deposed * Robert the Norman and Arthur the Plant a-^ ett efewerenewr the r eal oocttpant s of the throne- Bobert -was Minde d , despite thoinjtiacttOEi of the emperor Constantino who helditimpious toidteform the'foee ; tiboaeatrof celestial beauty , though Constantino , as Dr . Doran obserre * ,-who killed hia own-sortihai no right to say anything on that subject . Of the : two conspicuous examples in our history—Edward IX and'Richard ci t jj cubu uj «« & * . iwivu

      xi . ——neitiier ueaerveu muun sympaLuj . unes ... *><« ^ Court * and continued to the last revengeful , frivolous , and selfish .. N " ot one adrakable . quality was brought out in Jus charae ± er by the austerities of his compulsory seclusion . On ; the Scottish throne ,, of thirty-seven . ntonarohs who ruled from the ninth : century to : the date of the Uniott , only ten died natural deaths ^ and of . these half were broken-hearted . TVenty-two perished in the field or by aBsassinatfian } and one on th « scaffold ; four-resi gne d their sceptres , but of these not onev interests ua by his personal eharacteristicSj or "by any romantic inctdeh % that-marked his uncrowned career : The Irish kings , being innumerable , may soon be passed over . The mysticism of Cormac did not prevent him from ch' oking hiinself with a fish-bone ; in fact , Ireland , modest by proxy in the person of Dr . Doran , admits -that of all her unfortunate monarcls , only one was a respectable man . Tte Welsh kings were chiefly fano . QU 3 for drinking , while of the kings of the Scilly Isles , the most distinguished was . Saiat Constaatme , who abdicated , and for seven years carried on . thet business of , a miller .

      King John in the Savoy , and Louis Phillipe at . Claremonty are familiar personages ; less notorious is King Theodora , wfco was KJrowned with the laurel of . Corsica ^ He only reigned for eight months , but put a good many persona to death in proof of his prerogative , then ranaway and came within the meaning of tke : vagrant act . However , the idle society of London was delighted to have a toy Mng ; and so Theodore drank tea- at Lady Sebaub ' s , and ; Horace Wal |> ole went there to see Mm , and hemight Jiave enjoyed the airy dominion of & title * had-not certain creditors : arrested him . andcast bin into ; the debtors ? gaol . There he lived on charity , but maintained the dignity as- Tbe-Unique , and sat is fallen majesty under a canopy composed of th e ^ top of » halS-tester bedstead . He instituted an order , made knights , and jmcoicfciiig'tfiemgenuity of a British minister , lived upon the fees . Walpole , wmf g otno a sufcscriptrbnin his behalf , was afterwards forced to complain of : His " dirty knavery . "' At last , the cashiered kingling died , and was

      ourled , piuianthjopically aad ostentatiously , by an oilman of Sobo , who did not pay . the undertaker ' s bill Corsica suggests Bonaparte , and Bonaparte JSlhaV aad . St . Helena ; , but those retirements have gone to the diorama pauateFSu William-Frederick of Holland was remarkable in , only oae respect—he illustrated the value of Da Paulmy ' s axiom , that kings never remaia long in love without making fools of themselves . Yet he was not an unmitigated simpleton , for he appropriated to himself thirteen millions sterling , for theKComforft of his old age . The story of Henry IV . is uninteresting ; that of Charles . "V . ha& been completely told by Brescott and Sijrlu )^ , Eerdinand . of u ^ ostria amused himself , after bis abdication , by « vrag 5 ainner parties to ladies ; Frederick of Bohemia , the winter king ; , by fishing aad diacipUninghis thirteen children ; Ludwig of Bavaria bewails hie first meeting with LolaMontes . Thq history of the deposed popes is a history

      ot cruelty and degradation ; .. that , of the deposed czars , is grotesque in its barbarity . Ivaa JLv . was the most , prominent example . Catherine , who spoke * of . Her : wardered husband as . her neighbour ,. made an impression on Hc ^ a ^ e , Walpoia % iniQd by her treatment , of this miserable creature , very different . from that , produced , on , the mind of Edmund Burke . He called her the modern Atbaliah , a devil in a diadem , more unnatural than Semiranus , by instinct a poisoner . Certain . historians , nevertheless , adulate her memory , as certain , others , adulate , that of Christina of Sweden , the murderer of Monaldeschi . This lady ,. w , ht * was whipped by her mother after she was a queen—for illicitly drinking her rose-water—was * throughout her life * passionate ,, ribald , and cruel , and after she had caused her ; unhappy councillor to bo stabbed to death at Fontainebleau , condescended to the basest attituo « af ( of . hypocrisy .,

      From * first to last ,, this procession of bareheaded kings and queens presents few examples of virtue or majesty . In nearly every case , the retirement , of the , BOTrereign would have , been a blessing to the people had he not iQftd&Kaj for . an . equaULy . odious successor . Dr . Doran notes the exceptronal caaea , ajad . does full justic e to some of the abdicated , who were tpo n « tole for , their thrones ; , but ; Ha gallery ia hting , in . general , with , sombre and ; sinister po * t * ait » - ~ suggeBtive , chiefly , of , bigotry , gluttony , and remoxse ^ ,. ;

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      BOET 8 . AHB PLAGIARISTS : ALEXANDEK ; SMITH . WhmtAttonaam . No , 1523 * ( January 8 id , 1857 . ) < ^ i ^/ 0 *^ ' !^ ^^ . ^? " books of ^ seaaon , and may fairly be SSSSS 2 ? * - « r w ^ cmtrg- critics ; but ttt « Athenavm has printed a ' ^* a " »* 5 » ftom one of its corre « pondentsi which forces to to ntfttae it , lens , indeed , as a person-al matter , concerning Alexander Smith iml ^ LL ^ r J ^^ hX ^ yT 5 a IVestibn of considerable literary * 3 £ SfiJ ^ ^ ^ l jUk ? % "> of courae , inserted the letter with S ^ reS ? possible tests—the opinion of iin-^ 0 * e artid ^ in-qutation , whtdi extends to five coluonnB of the Athetumm fi ^ STT *^ ? « in *^» t'of . literary integrity , " against AlSnder SKSrtS ^ . ^ STl ° sy 8 te ™^«^ eHborate , a ° nd wholesale plng ^ S ; la * J ***»« mmi& tob « made up from the poems of other writers ; and , in

      proof of tfae accusation j passages are quoted side- by side . On the hast » or nnthinking reader , the effect of this article will assuredly be very i ^ jurious tor Alexander'Smith ; and as a question of "literary integri ty " ¦ we very earnestly beg our readers-to consider the matter . ° Two general propositions may be laid down . First : That all young poeta have exhibited , and will continue to exhibit , abundant reminiscences in ^^ their language , imagery , and thoughts . 'They have read poetry -with keener sensibilities than most men , and are prompted to reproduce what they have ad etimes do at other times

      xe ; som they so consciously , quite unconsciously Secondly : That the distinction between reminiscence and plagiarism—be « tween reproduction and appropriation—is always discernible irTihe manner of the writer , and in the nature of the source whence he derived the ap . propriated material . No one -talks of Milton ' s ' plagiarisms . ' To-take thoughts or images from writers familiar to all readers , is to expose yourself to instant detection ; but to take thoughts or images from forgotten or obscure waiters is open to more suspicion . Even then , the question is , Has the thought been stolen , —simply approp-riated , —or has it been enlarged improved , and altered in its application ? '

      The two propositions just laid down enable uSj we think , to dispose of the charges brought against Alexander Smith . It required no " Z " to write to the MhentBum the announcement of the discovery that the young poet abounded in reminiscences—that tricks of phrase , and wellknown images , -were assignable to previous poets . This defect he has ia common with all young poets ; not more than others , however . Shelley , Tennyson , Keats , and Bailey have been read by him , and may claim ' ' their thunder' in occasional lines . But Alexander Smith never plagiarises . If he reproduces an image , he adds to it a touch of grace , or gives it a new " application . Wlia-i ; he has taien maybe all restored to its owners , and leave him little poorer as a poet . His finest passages are not m " Z ' s" list .

      " Z , " alluding to the fact that the young poet had never seen the sea , nor the midland counties , declares the " whole mystery of the new poetic system stood revealed" wiien-he , " Z , " reflected -that Shelley had seen the sea , and Keats the midland counties . If we understand this , it means that Alexander Smith has taken his sea and landscape from Shelley and Keats ; yet when "Z" comes to cite his specimen of this plagiarisms , he does not give a single one from Keats having , the remotest reference to such scenery , noT does he quote anything from Shelley having a peculiar touch ; of the sea initi But . ldttis grapple with the specimens . The two poets contrasted in these extracts are Tennyson v . Alexander Smith .

      ' . ' . ' ' - ¦ ¦ ¦ . ' . '" -1 . .- ' ¦ ¦¦¦' "' .. - . ¦ The full-juiced apple , waxing over mellow , Oiir "beings mellow , then tley fall , Drops in a silent autumn night . Like o ' erripe peaches from the -wall ; All its allotted length of days , We ripen , drop , and all is o ' er . ( p . 61 . ) The flower ripens in its place , Ripens aad fades and falls , .... All things have rest and ripen to-vrard the grave . . ( " . Lotus Eaters . " ) The shattering trumpet shrilleth ligh . . . His voice that shivered the mad trumpet « They reel , they roll , in clanging lists . blare , — ( " Sir Galahad . " ) A . new-raised standard to -the reeling field . ( p . 69 . ) o * Nor lose the wrestling thews tliat throw And mth a strong arm hold the rearing the world . ( " Princess , p . 166 . ) world . ( p . 69 . ) 4 . All my bounding heart entanglest hearts are tangled in a golden smile . In a golden netted , smile . ( u Madeline . " ) ( p , 70 . ) 5 . My Hercules , my Eoman Antony , My , Hero ! my Heart-god ! My mailed Bacchus . My dusk Hyperion , Bacdxu 3 of the lads ! ( " Dream of Fair Women . " ) My Herculea . ( p . 75 . ) 6 . The leader , wild swan in among tlie stars long strings of geese come clanging from Would clang . ( " Princess , p . 93 . ) the stars . ( p . 117 . ) 7 . a feeacon-tower ahove tho -waves the lighthouse in the gloom .... Of tempest , when' the crimson-rolling eye It opes it 3 ruddy eye , the night recoils , G " ™ ' ( Ibid . p . 06 . ) A crimson line of light runs out to aea . ( p . 120 . ) 0 . The heavy ? docks knolling th <» drowsy The drowsy steeples tolled the hour of hours . ( " Gardener's Daughter . " ) One . ( 136 )

      p . . 9 . Sow'daU their mystic gulfs with fleeting Great gulfs of silence , Hue , and strewn atara " i ( Ibid . ) with stars . ( p . 138 . ) 10 ' . What time tho mighty moon w&s gather- See the great moon . . ing light . (« Love and Death . " ) la slowly from tho darkness gathering light ! ( p . 202 . ) In . these there are some reminiscences , but not one plagiarism . Tho first passage is as old as Hesiod . The second has little resemblance . The third Sh £ S ! l ? lagBil an ? £ finor one" Th < J fourth ia a poetical commonplace . Xttoinftn is one of those resemblances which only microscopic hate could diecoTtt . to be a plagiarism . The sixth is a cloaer reminiscence than usual . 1 he seventh . 8 arso a ^ einuuacenoo , but how completely the poet has made it S , ? 7 ' what a « ne addition is that , " the niglrt recoib , a crimson line of light runs out to sea ! " The eighth has onowoTd , " drowsy , " like the original The ninth is a reminiscence . So is the tenth , but greatly improved by making the moon « gather tho light from the darkness . " Let us now turn to Keats : — — - gold va » e omboss'd great cup of gold Witli long-forflott » story , &o . All rich onA rough with etoriea of the ( . " EndynuonV B . 8 . ) gods . ( p . 18 . ) nJJrl newr , ve ? 'Bi <) n ' undoubtedly suggested by Koats , is much finer , more concrete , and thus hae beoome original .

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      4 & T 31 B Ji ^ A ThBySk [ Nor 3 && i BAmm > A ^

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Jan. 10, 1857, page 42, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2175/page/18/