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Leader (1850-1860), 10th January 1857, Edition 1 of 2, Page 43, Untitled Article

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      Like > to a . diver ia the pearly seas * She like a swimmer-who has found his Forward he stoop'd over the airy shore , ground ,. And . plunged . aU noiseless into the deep Came rippling up a silver strand of cloud nighfc ( Hyperion . " } And . plunged from the other siSe into the night . ( p ; 52 . ) This is very ^ close . Yet there are touches of originality . O Sorro-wy why dost borrow Alas that yeara should harry Tiie natural hue of health from vermsil Gloss from life and joys from lips , lips ? .... Love-lustres from the eyes of Glari ! The lustrous passion , from a falcon eye ? ( p . 61 . } (" Endymion , " B . 4 . ) " Z" discover plagiarism in this , as he does in so many other instances . We leave him in full possession of such sagacity . Of the same character are the following from Shelley : —

      »¦¦¦¦ A Eower Thou art a rock , Girt round with weakness la weak ware wouM break en tbee and A breaking billow;—even vrhilst we speak die . ( p . 3 . ) Is it not broken ? ( " Adonais . " ) ¦ ¦ All deadly shape 3 yrete driven Across thy soul dark herds of demon Tumultuously across her sleep . dreams . ( p . 180 . ) ( " Marianne's Dremn . " ) . And this from Leigh Hunt : — The birds . . . As darts a bright bird in and out the S . ixng and darted . ia and . out the boughs . leaves . ( p . 159 . ) ( "RLmiiri , " B . iiL ) ITo one , of" course , erer observed a bird dart in and out of trees until Leigh Hunt observed it ! But so resolute is " Z" to " refer to their original sources" any passages or words he finds in Alexander Smith , that he actually instances the following as examples : — Here are ( in or out of season ) Jove , Bacchus , Mercury , Dian , Ou . pid , Venus , Apollo , Hercules , Orion , —Caesar , Marc Antony and Cleopatra , Hero and Leander , — Bacchanals , Nymphs , Naiades , Memnon , the Sphynx , Egypt ' s Gods , Adam and Eve , Moses ' s Serpent ^ Loves of the Angels , Jacob and Rachel , Absalom , Satan , Dives , — Paradise , Hesperides , Labrador , Ind , Indian air , Ganges , Indian morn , Cub of Ind , — lutes , timbrels , swans , < krv « s , falcons , larks , panthers , leopards , fawns , water-lilies , daisies- on graces , " like April unto May , " ' . * ' populous -with , bees , " " bathed in sumset , " moon whitening o ' " piled sheaves , " wine-cups , heart-pants , queenly maidens , crowns , palaces , haunted springs , worlds of greenery , purple nights , blue days , throbbing stars , spooming seas , old gods , old kings , great queens , earls , " wild-eyed " persons , singing 1 rills , ancient woods , windy woods , brooding thunder-eaves , braying trumpets , —orling , ringing , reeling , broadening , far-splertdouring , grandeuring , — mighty Bards , Poets of ihe Age , Poets' deaths , Poets' fames , "O Fame ! Fame Same ! " ¦ ¦ « Poesy ! Poesy ! " &c . &c . Is "Z" a lunatic ?

      From Leigh Hunt tliree passages are said to be plagiarized—a charge ¦ which we are quite sure the veteran will energetically disclaim . They are very fine passages , and . Alexander Smith ' s passages , also fine , !> ear a faint , Tery faint , resemblance to them ; but if such , be plagiarism deserving public reprobation , woe upon the poets to come !—And flung scattering The foam b&hind , as though he scorn'd With scornful breath the kissing , flatt « rthe sea ; ( Hero and Leandor . " ) ing foam . ( p . 17 S . ) The wind is mad upon the moors , The terror-stricken rain And comes in-to the rocking town , Mings itself wildly on the window-panes , Stabbing all things up and down , Imploring shelter from the chasing wind . And then therre is a weeping rain ( p . 2 { fc 8 . ) Huddling ' ga-inst the window-pane . ( " Captain . Sword and Captain Pen . " )

      ghastly pnaon , that eternally An old fort liko a ghost upon the hill Holds its blind visage out to the lone sea . Stare in blank misery through the blind-(" Power and Gentleness . " , ) ingrain . ( p . 237 . ) We cannot go through the list of examples ; but we have given specimens of all kinds , and . now we ask our readers what they think of a writer producing such evidence , and on the strength of it saying : — In all thesft instances the appropriation is simple and direct . Mr . Smith has not troubled himself to smear the faces and change the garb of the stofcft-thildren . But a favourite secret of his composition seems to consist in taking three or four passages from various writers and marrying them together—not in immortal verse . Was our interference in such a case justified , or not ?

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      MEMOIRS 01 ? RICHARD CUMBERLAND . Memoirs of Mcfiard Cumlerfond . Written by Himself . " With Illustrative Notes by Henry glanders . TrUbner and Co , The Memoirs of McliarH Cumberland—Courtier , Poet , Dramatist , and Philosopher—were published some yeara before his death , but never reached a second edition . They are largely interspersed with anecdotes of the men of his time , with most of whom he was intimate . The cumbersome style , however , in which the events he has to record , and the gossip ho has to narrate , ar « placed before the . reader condemned the work to an oblivion from which a little humour and sprightliness would have rescued it . In vain wo look for the witty air of Walpole . Another characteristic which the work possesses is not calculated to detract , from its duhteas . It is evidently \ yrittcn with a ¦ vie w to apologize for the author ' s many ill successes ; and a work written to patch up a man ' s character must always be tinted with a false colouring In America , however , tlie " Memoirs" have been revived . They are recommended , in the short notice which prefaces this edition , as being peculiarly interesting : to the American student of history , inasmuch as they re lute the episodical eareoT of Cumberland as British envoy in Spain at a timo when the ex-President , Jay , was Minister of the struggling republic at the same cour * . Cumberland received his early education at "Westminster , -where ho had Warren Hastings , Colman , Lloyd , and Vincent as schoolfellows . From

      Westminster he removed to Trinity College , Cambridge , and , whilst only a student , had the good fortune to obtain the office of Private Secretary to Lord Halifax , then First Lord of Trade and Plantations , and afterwards Lord-lieutenant of Ireland . This connexion with bis lordship procured him the offer of a baronetcy , which , being but a hollow honour , h « declined . On the death of Lord Halifax , he received the Secretaryshi p of theBoard ., of Trade , and signalized himself by a steady discharge of its formal duties . His next step was a failure - Being sent on a mission to Lisbon to treat with the Spanish court , then at war with us , on the articles of a peace he exceeded nis instructions , and proceeded to Madrid . Considerable mystery hangs over the causes which led to his recal . Some aifirm hi 3 advancing into Spain was the real ground ; others maintain that he was not sufficiently firm in earrying out the injunctions of the Ministry , the cession of Gibraltar being laid down by them as the basis of any negotiation . Whatever was the cause * it is generally admitted that he was harshly treated both in his-recal and on his return . He therefore retired to Tunbiidge Wells , where he spent the remainder of his life in writing pLays , epics , and

      operas * How difficult is it to keep silence under a delusion of wrongs ! The account of the " Spanish Mission" affords many a complaint which might find a parallel in the heart-burnings of our late gallant Baltic Admiral . Cumberland receives letters from the Foreign Office- ' — " If the enclosed letter was not altogether what I hoped for , the covering letter was most decidedly what I had not deserved , for it conveyed a more than implied reproof for my having written to the Spanish Minister , and at the same time acknowledges that my paper was cautiously -worded , and that I had most certainly succeeded in iny argument . " Again :- — "If , in any one part of my conduct or conversation , I bad . advanced a step beyond the line of my instructions , or varied from them in a single instance , 1 should not have sought to shelter myself under the peculiar difficulties of my situation , I must have met the reproof I merited . " But whether under the lash for his political or literary conduct , Cumberland always manifested a most sensitive disposition—so sensitive , indeed , that he was nicknamed by Garrick " the man without a skin , " and caricatured by Sheridan in the character of " Sir Fretful Plagiary . "

      Cumberland s public life presents three distinct phases—its political , its dramatic , and literary phases . His political life threw him into the society of the court politicians of the day , arid we have an The Memoirs , " as has already been observed , sketches of many characters known to history . His dramatic and literary career is that upon which his reputation will longest last . By his connexion with the stage and the press he became acquaint ed with Grarrick , Foote , Kemble ; Bannister , Mrs . Siddous , Miss Farren , Johnson , Burke , Goldsmith ,, Reynolds , and others . It is unnecessary to enter deeply into the merits of Cumberland as an author . He tried his hand at almost every kind of composition in prose and poetry . He wrote an epic , making Milton his model ; but who ever hears of the Calvary" now ? He gained great eelat as a Gi-eek scholar and essayist , and his " Observer" has been

      incorporated into the popular edition of the " British Essayists ; " but since it has become known how much he was indebted to Bentley ' s MSS ., even his character , as a Greek critic is no longer sustained . " Arundel , " a story in two volumes , principally supports tis claims as a novelist , and at the time of its publication obtained a considerable circulation . His principal reputation , however , is based upon his powers as a dramatic writer , and on this it will continue to be based . In this branch of composition he exercised his inclination for variety , and produced pieces of every description , from tragedy and comedy down to the broad farce and the light vaudeville . Of his numerous productions , however , only " The Brothers , " " The West Indian , " " The Jew , " and " The "Wheel of Fortune" now to be found in the repertoires of theatrical managers .

      Here is a characteristic anecdote o-f Johnson , which we give as a specimea of Cumberland ' s style : — At the tea-table he had considerable demands upon his favourite beverag-e , and I remember when Sir Joshua Reynolds at my house reminded him that he had drank eleven , caps , he replied , " Sir , I did not count your glasses of wine , why should you number up my cups of tea ? " And then laughing in perfect good humour , he added , " Sir , I should hav « released the lady from any further trouble if it had not been for your remarks , but you have reminded me that I want one of the dozen , and I must request . Mrs . Cumberland to *» und up my number ! " When ho saw the readiness and complacency with which my wife obeyed liia call , he turned a kind and cheerful look upon her , and said , " Madam , I must tell you for your comfort you have escaped much better than a certain lady did a while ago , upon whose patience I intruded greatly , more than I have douo on yours ; but the lady asked me for do other purpose but to make a zany of me , and set me gabbling to a . parcel of people I know nothing of ; bo , madam , I had my revenge on lier , for I swallowed five-and-twenty cupa of her tea , and did not treat licr with as many words . " I can only say my wife would have made tea for him as long as the New River could have supplied her with

      . In the following , both Garrick and Foote figure :- — I remember full well when Garrick and I visited him , poor Foote had something worse than , a dull maa to struggle with , and matter of fact brought homo to him in a way that for a , time entirely overthrow his spirits , and most completely frighted him from liia propriety . We had taken him by surprise , and of course were with him some hours before dinnor , to make sure of out own , ii wo had missed of his . Ho acemed overjoyed to see us , engaged us to stay , walked with us into his gaxden , and read to ua some scenes roughly sketched for his " Maid of Until . " Hia dinner wae quite good enough , and his wine superlative . Sir Robert

      Hotelier , who had served in the Eaat Indies , dropped in before dinnor , and made the fourth of our party . When we had passed about two hours in perfect harmony and hilarity , Garrick called for hia tea , and Sir Robert rose to depait : thore was an unlucky screen in the room , that hid the door , and beliind which Sir ltobert hid himsel ] for some purpose , whether natural or artificial I knew not ; but Ifoote , supposing hin ; gone , instantly began to play off his ridicule at the expense of hia departed guest . 1 must confess it was ( in the cant phrase ) a way that he had , and juBt now a very unlucky way , for Sir liobert , bolting from behind the screen , cried out , "I am not gone l ' ooto ; sparo me till I am out of hearing ; and now , with your leave ,. I will stay til theao gentlemen depart , and then you . ahull amuse me at their coat , aa you hav < amused , them at mine . "

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      . . ¦ 0 a aruAB » 1 O , ' 1 S 5 &J THE LB-ADBE . 43

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Jan. 10, 1857, page 43, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2175/page/19/