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tion of relatives and friends . The late Mr . Hingeston was a Cornish gentleman ( here again we get on the ground of a species of separate nationality ) , -ind he ' amused Liuiself with the very harmless pursuit of writing verses on nnv and every occasion , and sending them to the Poets Corners of provincial newspapers . This was all vcry well ; " but the son , now that the futlier is dead , lias been thoughtless enough to collect these exceedingly fugitive pieces , and put them " forth with a great fanfaronade . Mr . Hm-««! ton senior , is introduced to the -world us one of the illustrious dead of Cornwall - and the son quotes the opinion of a fallow Coriiishinan that " the pul ) lie would eagerly hail a volume of such poetry . " In a note to one of the poems , Mr . ninge . < ton , junior , says : — There is ecidenthj a great similarity of style and character between my father ' s poetry and that of the late Thomas Moore . " We must confess that the evidence is by no means clear to us . There is something exceedingly ludicrous in the younger Mr . Uinjgeston thinking that the aliened similarity is made startlingly apparent by the " strange coincidence ' " of his father having written the
line—Those joyous hours are pass tl away , before lie had xead Moore ' s song " Those Evening Bells , " though there is a similar line there . Why , the verse is one of the most staring commonplaces of conventional poetry ; for ( witli leave "be it said ) Moore was sometimes - « uiltv of writing in the " pattern style . " Again : tbe Cornish celebrity chiuits the praises of another genius of the tin-producing county—one l « ortescue Iiitehins ; Avhercupon , Mr . Hingeston , junior , remarks , with exquisite simplicity •— "It is somewhat singular that their initials should have been the same . " (!) -We are pleased , " of course , with any exhibition of filial affection ; but , as our opinion is challenged , we must pronounce it . We have looked tlirongh several pages of this work , and liave found - . nothing but hopeless vacuity . Yet an admiring ¦ world must needs . be favoured with a view of " Tru . ro Yean Cottage , the residence . of Francis Hingeston , as it all men were dying to place it " among the well-known " Homes and Haunts of the English " Poets . 33 Such is the pother which is always made about
local lions ! Very far superior is a Northumberland bard—Mr . lemperley Grey , who sends us , from Newca . stle-upon-Tyne , a few' L >/ ., cs , privately printed , which , tlough by no means of a high order , show a feeling for nature and a faculty of singing . Here arc two very pretty stanzas on a mountain stream : indeed , '¦ the ' line in italics is " something ; more thaiv pretty : — In the rudeness of thy running , ¦ . '• '¦ . In the wililness of thy glee , In thy-wilful , I'lny ful cunning :,-: Thou art life and light to me , Mountain stream 3 O , mountain " stream ! In thy . dying murmurs haunting , la tli // burial in the sea , In thy dirge the wild-waves chanting ,
Thou art life and light to me , Mountain stream ! O , mountain stream ! There is a feeling of truth and pnssion , also , in some lines spoken by a girl whose betrothed is dead : — The quiet . town is sleeping , While in fierce heart-break of pain I live that i ' atnl yesterday Ay o ' er and o ' er again . The days drag on ; but no Telief—Oil ! " am 1 blind ? I do "but see One ghastly sight of uttor lvoe
—J ) e ( dli louiii / ii / thruityhjouil eyes to me . Mr . Grey does not always write as well as this ; in fact , we have picked out the two best things in bis little hook—whicli , by the way , with its clear type and illuminaied initial letters , is an elegant specimen of provincial printing . But the Northumbrian minstrel has in him something of the Troubadour faculty of those old "Icemen who used to come " from the North Countne . " We next take up a poem from ( or of ) Australia—Yarra Ya / r / t , or / he V ' anderhitf Aborufuw . A . Poetical Karrativo in Eleven Books . By Kinnahan Cornwallis . ( Hamilton , Adams , and Co . ) Yarra Yarra is an Australian chieftain as well ; i . s an Australian river ; and , being dispossessed of his ancestral lands , on the site of the present Melbourne , by " the withering , blast of civilization , " wanders over the world , and , With extensive view , ( Surveys mankind i ' rom China , to Peru . A strange , incoherent poem is this record of his rumblings ; and very singular arc the liberties taken with the English lang . iiage . Such , however , we suppose , are the babblings of Young Australia , already emulous of outshining America in verbal monstrosities . Mr . Cornwallis is evidently desirous that his poem shall ' bo , for the aborigines of the great houthevn island , what JJiii / tn / ha is for the perishing red mun of the western continent ; wherefore , he writes niter this fashion : — " Oh ! I rejoice to think on ( Juinn . Qunh , The fairest , virgin that o ' er Moulu > r \ vaa Danced to the Wur-Hong of a naked throng , Or ynblm yabbnml o ' er old lliirreiulong . Hail ! all lho . se regions by the voeky Koo , That once fair rivor tlmt through Kislilnmoo , In hurrying waters now baptized the Swim , I 5 oim <] s * to King George's e . ver restless van , Ko . tuniing never to tlu > yean mount , That livi' 3 beyond nil ever-yarr ' mg fount . Onkauai ingn , Unmlecroo , Murvarrnrong wirrnng , IVlypunga , yolli , NVilhingoo , Noorhmga , Mcrriang , From Kunyn . Uungii to tin- hill * , Moorumli to Ihe sea ; Adieu ! adieu ! no more for me in il to gn / . i ; on ye . In other places , we have -whole lyrics in the native Australian tongue ! A I . p . 48 , however , there is a touch of nature which may most truly be miiiUu make the whole world kin , since men of all countries can sympathize with ! . ) i
it . ] Mr . Cornwaliis is describing , in all poetic earnestness , a sea voyage during a storm ; and thus he writes : — Tlxe sailor on the watch walk'd trembling quick , While there close by him ptastngers were sick . Yarra Yarra is certainly a singular book ; but the reader will bear us witness that it is not devoid of truth . —Mr . Cornwallis also publishes a cheaper edition of the same poem ; but we have not collated it with the other , and therefore cannot say whether or not the author lias seen the error of his ways . The reader may , if he please , give him the benefit of the doubt . The Rev . 11 . A . Bloniefield translates from the French The Poetical Works
of Uemy Dura ml , a Swiss . ( Lay . ) The verses are conspicuous for a , devotional feeling ; but , as our language is not wanting in religious poetry , we do not se « the occasion on that ground for translating these . effusions . As for the descriptions of Swiss scenery , ' those are now stock property . "We cannot say much for Messrs . Durand and Blomeueld , nor for . Mr . Edward Charles Mogridge , whose Poems ( Judd and Glass ) , appeal to the same species of audience . . Corona and Other Foam , by E . J . Reed ( Longman ) , present some high « r qualities . The first and longest poem in this volume tells the story of a set
of enthusiasts who go out to a desert island , in order there to inaugurate a new and ideally perfect state of society , and who of course fail in their endeavours , and finally return to the old land , content to work humbly with their fellow-men in the good cause of gradual progression . The writer has steeped himself in Tennyson , and imitates his phraseology and his cadences with the skill , of a mocking-bird . But he has real imagination and fancy , and his descriptions , though sometimes overwrought and turgid , possess colour and suhstance . Mr . Heed may do something in future years , if lie will avoid affectation and imitation , and restrain his tendency to excess .
Teur-mic-Flit , and O ( h < jr Poems , by G . Curtis andT . L . Aldridge ( Bennett ) , anil ' Waves of Thotn / Iit and Feelh / rj , by J . II . Powell ( Partridge and Co . ' ) , are volumes of verse by working men . Devotion to a form of art is , of course , commendable in . any class of life ; but it would have been better to hare circulated those productions privately . Messrs . Curtis and Aldridge ¦ write ' one of those foolish , fussy prefaces , in which the vanity tliat proclaims itself such struggles with "the pride that apes humility . '' They tell us that "they have satisfied themselves with respect to the general merit ; of the work ,- ' but do not know whether the reader- . will be equally satisfied .
They think their publication may not contain anything " extraordinarily sublime , " and that " the more lengthy and pretentious productions [ may appear ] sinfulai-ly incoherent and " incomplete ; " they have not uniformly regarded " the auxiliary graces of rhyme and metre , inasmuch as they are in no ° way essential to true poetry , " but they hope ¦ " that due regard has been paid to the fixed rules of English prosody . " After such explanations as these , the reader knows what to expect , though perhaps lie would hardly anticipate that these poetical brothers ostentatiously accentuate heaven "heaven , " out of civility , perhaps , to the fixed rules of prosody .
A few volumes remain , ' of which we need only record the titles , since they present no special features for comment : —A new edition of Melancholy , and 01 for Poems . By Thomas Cox ( Saunders and Otley ) . Songs of Earfj / Spring . By Rowland . Brown ( Kent and Co . ) . Dream of Freedom , and Other Poems . By James Smart Linwood ( Buhnan ) . Poems and Love Lyrics . By llobert 1 Y . Buchanan ( Glasgow : Murray and Son ) .
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\ ¦ PUBLICATIONS AND REPUBLIC ATKINS . Tin ; Life of Cardinal Jlez :: ofanti , by Dr . CAY . Russell , published by Messrs . Longman- mud Co ., is the development of an essay which appeared some years ago in the JCdi , i / ji > r { jh lleciru ; and which has been translated into the French " wd Italian languages . -It is a work we shall examine with much interest . ' From the same publishers we have the continuation of Mr . Samuel Bailey's . Letters on . / lie Pli > loxoph > i if the lltuntru JUi / id , another volume which claims deliberate examination . ^ * A new volume of tfrlfr / ion . s , Grare and fiitj / -, by Thomas de Quincey , comes from Edinburgh ( Hogg ami Co . ) It contains Essays , Sceptical and Anti-Sceptical , on Problems Keglected and Misconceived , on Walking Stewart , on Oracles , on Greece , on Miracles , on the MnrquLs Wellesloy , on Protestantism , and on Casuistry . The author of " How to Make Home Happy , " has published ( Kent and Co . ) a new and useful volume , llratlli fur the J / i / l / on , a book so full of wisdom for application to daily life that we must treat of it at large . Messrs . Sampson Low and Co . send us a little volume called T // j > cs of WoiiHtuhoori , containing four stories : — " Our AVish , " " The Four Sisters , " " Bertha ' s Love , " and ki The Ordeal . " They are of the quality that attracts young readers who interest themselves in dramas of ail ' ection and social adventure . It is quite an announcement to mention a new English translation of a novel by Alexandra Dumas . As usual , it appears in the Parlour library ( Hodgson and Co . ) , forming the hundred and eighty-second volume of that sempiternal collection , and is entitled The lh'ijen f ti Daiii /// ler , iin Historical Itomance . A welcome and delightful treasure for every drawing-room is a new edition of . Vuure \ s Atd / d / ml -Urn // I' / ficr , Sn / ii / . s , note Jirst Vafle . cted , and published by Messrs . Longman and Co . These beautiful melodies have been too much out of l ' nuhion of late , and we cannot . say that they have been replaced by . songs or ballails better worth listening to . Assuredly thin most seductive casket will restore Moore to favour , and a glance at the dear old words and airs will thrill through many hearts like u sudden memory of happier < Uiys . The sixth volume of the 'R ev . Charles Murivale ' s llhtnrj / of / he Mo mans under the lluifire ( Longmans ) bus been long looked for : ind will be _ cagerly appropriated by students . J I , commences with a chapter on the pacification of Gaul b y Claudius and the . subjugation of Britain . lie turning to Home , it conducts us through the rei ^ us of Nero , ( lalbn , Olho , Yitellius , mid Vospasian , und the volume concludes with the destruction of Jerusalem by
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3 STo . 424 , May 8 , 1858 . ] THE X E A D E ^__ _ , _ , ___^ gj _
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Leader (1850-1860), May 8, 1858, page 451, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2241/page/19/
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