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    • Jabertousfwrite ***» % u * theprefiice to the-. White pevil % he . confesses that iwdoeainot ^ wtito ^ aih «; goo ^ quill winged two feathers , " and intimabmthat \ hBVOBaometimea tau » ted with hisi slownessu . We wish we could MKvtbftfcJiiswork * hear si ^ ns c £ this carefulness ; hut ,-with all their wonderful nearer andjgtauisy thej are sadly irregular . It ' isthought ; that Webster was AnactoTv asiwell . ft » aiWriter of plays * though this is by no means certain . An attginpi haa / beenimade . to show that John ; Webster * the dramatist ,, was tbe ^ aiue < ma n jm * a certain , John . Wtsbster ,. at one time ; a chaplain in the arm-tvwho , later iaithe ^ eveiitceiitb century , wrote some highly sanctimonious r « ligi ( H » a works ; butw&are happtyto fiud that . the Rev . Mr .. Dyee is enabled tw showi beyond doubt that the dramatist ; did not degenerate into the " d * ll and fanatical ? serimmiser . We have one suck humiliatinginstance tart lift py « 6 e&i ; day , and are glad to . be spared another in connexion with a

    greater * time . Websierihad / m , him . some : of the finest elements for- a dramatic poet ever possessed by any writer ; but he was deficient in some others no less impociant , and , his wo * kat suffer from the dooxble fault of . excess , of power in some'parts * and \ wtnt of powerin other parts . His passion and puthoswere poredBgiouft ; his sense of terror and gluom . never ; surpassed ; but he wanted atpepoeption : ofl tte- fine * and iu <> re delicate , shades of character , and his tmgbt -wttataometiiBesaJcBoafe brutal in ika > reckless defiance : of nature , and aatiz ~ JEukanmaafc of / . the : productions ! of ; h& contemporaries , his works are dBfivtenta&entu'etiesvand ,-aatound . erne naorain the shape of extracts than ^ riienireadr&onirtbei b ^ icufung to the end . " Webster probably wrote to meet theneeessitieaofthta n&uwentj though he wrote slowly ; and he appears tohavaLthoAighttoo much of the efll ' eet to be produced ou bis . audience . Ue he wa&

    Indotd , . mionetof bi »; preikoe ^ confesses that under that neeeashjn . StiUj . it is gmratdtowB thatib man who could -write so , grandly a-s he often did should also have sunk intosuebdrearyiftata aad sandy reaches of vague , dull , fantastical talk ; should so frequently have overwrought and coarsely coloured his characters ; should have wasted so much of his ink in the poorest ribaldry of the tavtir » a ; . and should , have constructed his plots ¦ with sa little regard ta the consiatent unfolding of avents . Occasional pasa « £$ * of the . wost magnificent poetry are . to be found , in Webster ; , but , as ^ rule » . hQ is not poetical His blank verseri * choppy , and hialyricageneiraUy ^ i » imu 8 ?< and imnulsea ,, though one of them * eulogised by Lamb ( a dirge fn itfgf JtfAiierItemt % fx > rnTnmciti « . «• Call for the robin redbreast and the wr-Qn *) , ia undoubtedly very fine . The reason of this lyrical deficiency we take to

    ae ^ tUat Webfcter , wanted : the exaltation * perception or beauty , belief , and flower , of" enjoyment , of" a poet . His genius was earthy , materialistic , a * aQ $ ring ,, misn . oihropie * tL Very little , humour or geniality lightens the suUe »^ o , o « y of his horrors and i » is depressing disbelief in the existence of ^ nyUMUg goad in human nature * He . takes us into a-world of various cliar racters , ^ bui-various job ly in the exhaustless affluence of their villany ; and wja ae ^ jj . as Ca a feverish dream ,, a turbulent , masquerade of murder , lust , and Wflaoity ,. with ; & swarm . <» f little meannesses buazmg about , those , more g ^ Autic vices . Semoraelesa men and shameless women : ; palaces reddened with homicidal crimes ; charnel-houses , and " talk fit for < a charnel" ( the ¦ word ? are . "Webster's ovm , and might stand as a , motto tot . his works ); ill dxi » ip& of sep ^ lcbres ,, yew-trees ; and otainaus relics of the . tomb ; . treason xes&led m ghastly , m entors , and fatal , pageants ^ echoes ^ with a meaning inuweist 1 ( , Iiaunting , old , . deeayjuivg , churchyards i , tortiu * e madaesa , fratricide , Vt fUaflTlA # l iVMftt 111 * OD '~ £ tf \ Ir . aoo tvhlAk « a rlA <> 4 lk \ « w . l « n . l » ^ . ^ . ^ .-t Ai . ? . ~ - Jl' ' _ 1

    nAtucal visitants i-r-such . are . the chief materiala of Webster ' s tragedies-Bfajfatiit * and , T ! ir ^ mat however ,. is an exception to the rule . That , * hBaet . iMateiials . pQSA € » sran iiumense fascination in such bands aa > 3 iis is ; un ^ hesfclonabl ^\ , b , ut the power is not of the highest kind k because it . is not ^ ojt tbte : healtniest : Yet , witli all / dra , w 1 > acks , it . must be admitted , thati W ^ b ^ ter ' s . was a g ^ eat ^ though an frreg ; uJjfcivg ; emus . Shakspeare hinaself n * 8 . notbing finer . than , some of nis gusty , fliiws , of passion ; and he often readxea t , he . ve ? j . fountain-head cf tears . Of his comedies it is not so easy to ^ ealc ^ beeausje tbey ( vere written in conjunction with other writers , and itjjju ^ poasible tu deterniine Webster ' s precise share , Tbe edition of . the old dnunatist now , before us is handsomely printed in a aui « le volume , with double coliunns , and will prove a . great , boon to the lovers of tbQ Jioaliah drama .

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    PELOPONNESUS . Pdoponnesua : Notqs of Study and Travel . By "William George Clark , BI . A . ^^ ' J . W . Parker and Son . ffyjtxcjz has been neglected 4 by ordinary tourists , and the reuson is , that the country u not one for unlearned trayelters . Eustace found every step in ttafjrclaaswttl ,. but thousands may follVm him without a fraction of hia 8 ^> Iar 8 top , ai | nlyet ; del : gatin tiie monuments of Rome and the palaces of . Cuseanyv rfteitlniie may be pleasantry visited by any one with an eye for r - * ail J Wftter lft «*« P «» - »« d fractured heights of architecture , but the S ^ CoLtu ^ in Greece ,

    « S »^ *^ tn cotopasite caatle ; Tfcweftwo the plOa »« nt paths of Greece are forsaken ^ aHhoug h therognoli it * elF > b 6 n . nds . iQ 4 autv , as wayfarers aid aS 3 wftMfiil ^? " ^ I " ° TP ™ »>» t « mribl ^ ftr whatever the land S Wawbem iit-ifa palmy age , it mprobablb tnat , even in picturesuonesa It ha ^ far deteno ^ ted ' , fire mountains of Pel . lponnesus iero not ^ K sa bag ) ua now ; t * ere was a thaa when they waved with woods , and when tho ^ BSp ^ Sn ?

    well-filled with qpotationsr ^ -though not . from some authorities which 1 mij ; ht wisely have consulted—he discourses at hi& own free will , ahd ' w ' tf a facility occasionally surprising , upon topics which , to" say the ' feast ar not now for the first time discussed . This contempt of his reader's doubts breaks forth in numerous passages like the following : —^' The most " turesque of poets was a Scotchman and a . writer to the signet- " a phi ' which will seriously diminish the respect of most persons for the' powers S f criticism attributable to Mr . Clark . With the proviso , however , that L notes of study and travel challenge frequent pretest , and . that his ' argument is often , even in its erudition , flippant and inconclusive , we must s " ay tliat we have read this volume with eagerness and pleasure . It is a welcome addition to a too-limited ¦¦ literature . All are but gleaners , the author con .

    fesses , in the steps of Colonel Leake , who has rendered services to Greek geography , archaeology , and literature , similar in extent to those of the "historian of ancient Grecian mjuiners and customs , in whose worlc the entire literature of Greek antiquity is condens ed , and formed into a series of pictures Mx \ Glark , however , lias examined the -views of the principal writers who have preceded liFm , and , while holding independent opinions which'he oenersilly attempts to justify by reference and analysis , furnishes an ample thou"h sketchy account of the Peloponnesus as it is , with interesting disquisitiojis on the geography of Hbiner , his descriptions having been written , in inrst cases upon the spot , with little modification afterwai'ds . Followinrr ' Leake and Penrose , Wordsworth and Stanley , he is an entertaining and informiii" if a dogniatic and somewhat impetuous inquirer . ° *

    ^ Prom Athens , Mr . Clark proceeded to Megara , passing of course by way of Eleusis and its dwindled stream , and Over the site of the obliterated Ion " walls . Hence , across the neck of the peninsula , he reached Corinth , where the fieldof his Peloponnesan R esearches opened , and whence , at every point of interest on the road , he discusses antiquariiin topics with Colonel J ^ eake aTuT others among the more authoritutive of his predecessars . From the Corinthian rock he traced a panorama of Grecian scenery which may perhaps send-wanderers from the Italian lakes to compare their beauty with the beauty of Helicon and the jE ' tolian hills , the Saronic Gulf , and the tills about Kemell . AH ^ this part of the journey lay through regions crowded with historical associations , with Homeric allusions , ' and ' with the traces of an art ages ago extinct . Mr . Clark , 5 n his traject of the peninsula , visited

    Ar g os , desceridm" thence ta Sparta , and taking withm his ran < je the entire Peloponnesus , quitted it at Corinth , reached by way of Sicyon . This volume , therefore , marks a line by-which the future touristy with a suggestive and explanatory companion , may guide himself from one point to nnotber , from Elis to Argos , from Cape Matapan to the Infernal liiver . Mr . Clark , boweyer , does not limit hicaseif to topographical speculations , or to the criticism of Homeric epithets—though -with some of these he deals freely , be noted , as he went , the manners and habits of the people , their costumes , the traces of ancient customs and : character among them , their political and social progress , and the moral and intellectual developments of their clergy . Ilegarded as a nation the modern Greeks , he thinks , stand low in the s < afe , in a physical no less than ia a moral and intellectual sense . Many English youths , lie affirms , would supply better models to sculpture , as A polios , than the flower of Greece , a proposition in which Mr . Clark is not supported tne testnnon

    oy au . xraveners upon -wnose y vre are disposed to rely . " Modern Greece , " he adds , " has produced no great artist , nor statesman ,. nor general , nor poet , nor philosopher ;' an assertion which may provoke a challenge frcm the panegyrists of Soutzos , and Spiridion Tri ' koupi , but which we believe to be substantially justifiable . The literature of the modern Greeks jte ornate and shallow ; their language lias been indescribably corrupted ; their sculpture 5 s far from comparable with that of Germany and , though the journalism of Athens is respectable , it claims no high Tank , and , indeed , could scarcely be expected to be more than an advance upon Ottoman muteness and insensibility . Mr . Ctarke ' s volume of notes and studies , though it may offend some minds—as it probably will by its laconic assumptions—is one which scholars will read with delight , and ordinary readers with ' pleasure . It is the work of a highly-cultivated and observant writer , the delicacy of whose taste led him to Greece , and the extent of whose knowledge enabled him thoroughly to" travel' * in a country wLere " travel , " iiv the strict sense of the term , is impossible except to the refined aud largely informed .

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    MR . J . E . EEADE'S NOVEL . The . Light of Other Days . By John Edmund Renclo . 3 vols . Hurst ami Blackett It would be a mistake and an injustice to confound this witlx the ordinary novels of the season . Mr . Reade has not written down to the circulating libraries . But , on the other hand , ho ha * produced a story which . lurea the reader on , although through strange scenes and abrupt windings * from tlm first to the lust page . In the whole work there is nothing common-place , nothing conventional . The book is not , as might have bqen expected , a prosopoem ; it is singularly free from figures of speech and exuberances of langusiye . Mr . Keade , having , a tale to tell , which almost seems a disclosure of a family hist ory ^ develops it ia a style varying Vvth the nature of the scenes , and inctilents are so familiar as to take ua bv surpriso . especially when remembethat it is

    we r imputed to him , us a poet , that he has a constant tendency to the recondite und the obscure . His . priucip . il lutilt as a novelist ia that novel writing is apparently new to him . lie lias bestowed little piuns upon the construction of hid plot , his dramatic contrasts are excessive : he leaves it to the reader to infer much that he docs not explain , and some of the maun events , although peculiarly striking in themselves , do not appear essential to tfau conduct of tlie story . It sepms . to ' . iu a defective art when any elaborately startling situation is produced without aa ^ tiuK tlie real movement ol iho narrative . Mr . Koude ,, how ( avor , has published no novels previous to this , and to all appearance , luu r « iud fow . oxceut the best ; it is evident that he is studying no model , that lie has « a idea , and i * working it * S , r ... n , ° fP lldvai ? tW !» o enjoys , ia thai of a lonaaxperience iu society , and acquaintance with all sorts a « d conditions at * men . The . reaalt is a novel totally out of the common ,, ^ p ) epul atiy » , withottt boinjjtduHi admirably

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    with 618 THB -IiB . A- . D-B B . [ No , 4 ai , ^^ 26 , 1858 .

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), June 26, 1858, page 618, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2248/page/18/