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Leader (1850-1860), 30th January 1858, Edition 1 of 2, Page 113

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      No . 410 , January 30 , 1858 . j THE LEADER . 113

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      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 , If ow crush'd but not quite lifeless by his fall . And these uiss look to thee , and from thy grief-Something too studiously , forgive me , shown—Infer thee their accomplice ; and they say That thou 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 not 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 , Merbpe , 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 \ . ' . Z- — To their dead king , thy husband—yea , too dear , For that destroy'd him . Give them peace ; thoucan ' st . 0 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 art who speakest to me ? I Am Merope , thy murder'd master ' s wife . . . And thou art Polyphontes , 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 pa ' tch 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 . rOLYPHONTES . Not so : let these Messenian maidens mark The feur'd and blacken'd ruler of their race , Albeit with lips unapt to self-excuse , Blow off the spot of murder from his name . — Murder!—but what is murder ? 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 hero , — All know how weak the Eagle , Hercules , Soaring from his death-pile on GEta left His puny , callow Eaglets ; and what trials—Infirm protectors , dubious oracles Construed awry , misplunn'd invasions—ua'd Two generations of his offspring up ; Hardly the third , with grievous loss , regain'd Their fathers' realm , this ialo , from Polopa nam'd . — Who made that triumph , though deferr'd Becure ? Who , but the kinsmen of the royal brood Of Hercules , scarce Heracloidus less Than thoy ? those , and the Doriun lords , whoso king JEgim ' uiti gave our outcast house a homo _ WJjon Thebes , when Athens dnr'd not ; who in arms Thri ^ iBsiioTftiflr ^ ¦ And shed their blood like water iu our cnuso ?—Such were tho tfittpossossors : of what stamp Wore thoy wo dispossessed ?—of us I spoak , Who to Mcsaonia with thy husband cumo—¦ 1 speak not now of Argos , Avhoro his brother , Not now of Sparta whoro Mb nephews roign'dt—What wo found horo wore tribes of fame obscure , Muoh turbulence , and little constancy ,

      Precariously rul'd by foreign lords From the J&olian 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 la-ws he fram'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 , Unadidating 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 bis heart , To Zeus , before he struck his blo-w , struck mine : 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 fine like- Soaring from his death pile on 2 Efca , left . unrhythmical to licence ; and the phrase ' used up' a few lines lower is not only objectionable in style so elevated , but is so distributed as to produce a still worse

      effect—&p . U 8 ed Two generations or 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 . . . . - ., anal of the various

      Unless we could give several columns to the ysis 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 .

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      NEW NOVELS . The Three Chances . By the Authoress of * The Fair Carew . ' 3 vols . ( Smith , Elder , and Co . )—To the numerous idealizations of blindness and madness which crowd the literature of romance , tho 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 he smites the floor with a heavy chair , and to his sense the blow falls more softly than velvet ; he opens tho window j the roller is passing noiselessly over the gravel ; the thrush on a neighbouring branch is sitting songlcss ; the reaper's scythe w as inaudible as that of death j tho lattice opens and shuts without a creak : —

      " The dog leaped up but gavo no yoll , The wire was pulled , but woko no boll , Tho ghastly knocker rose and foil , But made no riot : The ways of death , wo all know well , Are very quiet . " In ^ this-instance , -ib-is-deafness ^ and _ not _ dQftjlll , ^ kftt ,. . in S > $ J > ro 8 on < w of Mr . Manley Frere , enchants all creation into a horrible silence . M » is worse than a shadowless man ; ho is a mini without an echo ; no cannot hear his own voice ; tho ludy appointed to bo his bride is , <» on fW |« J parted from him , through tho influence of her friends , « nd it is astonishing what an Iliad of dramatic melancholy ensues from the P ^^ J ** £ hero ' s ear . This , tho nerve of the Btory . ™ os through it , pulsing sometimes whore it is not soon ; but tho author docs not wear out her invention . A

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Jan. 30, 1858, page 113, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2228/page/17/