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Leader (1850-1860), 2nd July 1859, Edition 1 of 2, Page 798

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      Untitled Article

      Southey ' s . Want of faith led to discomfiture . On the incident of- Mr . Canning ' s duel with Lord Castlereagh , his biographer holds the former blameless . We much regret that our limits will not permit us to go into the extraordinary documents in relation to the trial of Queen Caroline ; but perhaps the whole affair is best buried in oblivion . ' . . We take up Mr . Canning's story , therefore , with

      the fast of his becoming Foreign Secretary , after the death of Lord Castlereagh—and the grand explanation of bis foreign policy in his speech at Liverpool . Further expositions of his _ general conduct are voluminously supplied in his correspondence with the King , and in the attitude assumed by him in the last period oi his life . The country's estimate of Mr . Canning as a statesman has , however , been long settled ; and there is no

      politician who will carry to future times a more brilliant reputation . As a speaker , the most polished;—as a diplomatist , wise , prudent , spirited , and successful ; - —and as a man , conscientious and brave . Feared , however , for his wit , and daunted by his wisdom , there were many who suspected his objects while living , who , when he was dead , repented of their malignity . George Canning was , indisputably , a great man .

      Untitled Article

      THE POEMS OF HEINE—Complete . Translated in the Original Metres . With a Sketch of Heine ' s Life . By Edgar Alfred Bowringr . — Longman , Brown , Green , Longmans , ancMRoberts . A book like this is nothing less than a prodigious feat—a marvel of extraordinary significance . Mr . Bowring has undertaken the whole of the poems of the celebrated Heine ^ and given them to us in an English dress in one volume : — -Heine , the German Voltaire . "O heavy lightness ! serious vanity ! " A task more difficult is scarcely conceivable ; that it should have been so well executed is wonderful . Heine is in German literature the greatest name after Goethe . It may perhaps be a * well to state thai ; Mr . -Bowring has already published complete versions both of Goethe and Schiller ' s poems . He seems to delight in . translating the whole of a noet ' s ,, 1 / iju i appreciates the task lit its real worth , and grounds bis practice on secure principles . One of those principles is stated in the title-page , and is fitly put in . front of the book . It is fidelity to the metres of the original poems . Those of Heine are in every possible variety , and their character , and always their specific effects , depend on the actual measure , In fulfilling this obligation Mr . Bowring has been exceedingly hapny . We have said that Heine was the Voltaire of Germany . He was fond , probably , of thinking himself an atheist , and certainly wrote in a manner

      ^ ^^^ ^ w ——^¦^^ " * " * " We must give yet another extract from the same poem , stowing how the lower _ animals complain of the tyranny of man . The satire is exqmsite —though intensely German—and the irony profound :- — In the cavern , by his young ones , Sick at heart , upon his back lies Atta Troll , while thoughtful sucks he At his paws , and sucks , and growls : . 4 Murama , Mumma , swarthy j e wel , " Whom 1 out of life ' s wide ocean " Once did fishv in life ' s wide ocean " Once again I now have lost thee ! " ¦ Shall I ne ' er again behold thee , "Or bevond the grave p ' rhaps only , ' Where , set free from earthly trammels , " Thy dear soul is glorified ? gg | ^

      than a mere schoolmaster ! Better then it might have been for him and France . Hut who knows . ? M 1 li i I ' Better then it might

      " Would that I , alas , could once more " Lick thy well-beloved muzzle , " My dear Mumma , which so sweetly " Stroked me over , as with honey i " Would that I again could snuffle ' That sweet sinoll , thy own peculiar , " O my dear and swarthy Mumma , " Charming as the scent of roses ! " But , alas ! my Mumma ' s pining " In the fetters of those rascals , " Who , the name of men adopting . " Deem themselves creation ' s masters . " Death and hell ! These men unworthy , " Aristocracy ' s arch emblems , " Look down on the an ' mal kingdom " Proudly and disdainfully , " Take away our Wives and children , " Fetter us , ill treat us , even " Kill us , for the sake of selling ¦ " Our poor hide and our poor carcass ! " And they think themselves permitted " Wicked deeds like these to practise " 'G-ainst us bears especially , . " And the rights of man they call it ! " Eights of man indeed ! JMne- sights these ! 44 Tell me who bestowed them on you ? 41 Nature certainly ne ' er did so , . " For she ' s not unnatural , " Rights of man indeed ! Who gave you 44 This great privilege , I wonder ? 44 Reason certainly ne ' er did so , " For she ' s not unreasonable I " Men , pray are . ye any better 44 Than we others , just for eating " All your dinners boil'd or roasted ? 44 In a raw state we eat ours .

      " Yet is the result the same 14 To us both . —No , food can never 44 Make one noble ; he is noble 44 Who both nobly feels and acteth . " Men , pray are ye any better 44 Just because the arts and science 44 Wi , th success ye follow ? We now 44 Never give ourselves the trouble . " Are there not such things as learned 4 > Dogs , apd horses too , wlio reckon 44 Just like councillors of Commerce ? 41 Do not hares the drum play iinely ? 44 not many beavers adopts 44 In the artof hydrostatics ? 44 Were not clysters first invented 44 By the cleverness oi storks ? ' Write not asses criticisms ? " Are not apoB all good comedians ? 44 Is there any greater mimic 41 Than Batavla , long-tall'd monkey ? 44 not nightingales good singers ! 44 And Is Frefligrath no poot , 44 Who oan sing of lions uottor 44 Than his countryman tho Camel ? 41 1 myself the art of danolng ' Have advanced as much as Rnumor 44 That of writing . Writes he bettor 44 Than I dance , —yes , I tho bear ? " Men , why are ye any better 44 Than wo others ? Upright hold yo , 14 It is true , your hends , but in them 44 Low-born thoughts aro ever creeping , " Mon , pray aro yo any bettor 44 Than uro wo , because your akin is 44 Smooth and glist'ning ? This advantage 44 Yo but share > vlth ovory serpent . 41 Human rnoo , two-leggdd serpents j 44 Well I soo tho reason why ye 44 Breeches wear ; with forolgn wool yo " Hide your sorpent-nakodaws t 44

      Children , guard yoursolvoB against those 44 HiiirloHS and misshapen oreoturos t My dear daughtorn , never marry 44 Any monster that wears brooches 1 " More than this I'll not roport now , How tho boar in his wild mania For equality , kept reasoning All about tho human race . These two citations are duo to tho celebrity of this admirable poem , and to the poet . In the brief biography of him prefixed to this volume it is stated that " when tho private papers of Louis Philippe fell into the hands of the populace at the sack oi the TuUeries , in February , 1848 , it was discovered that Heine had for many years enjoyed , a pension of some £ 200 a your on the Civil Xast . " This is an anecdote honourable to tho schoolmaster monarch , and speaks strongly in favour of his literary judgment . Had ho but bqen something more

      not allowable to the most abstract freethinkingr- ^ in a spirit of libertinism and insincerity that is equally repulsive to good taste and truth . But his genius is indubitable . As a specimen of his style , and of the translator ' s skill , we cite one characteristic passage from , his best poem— " Atta Troll" —which is the story of a dancing bear treated with infinite humour : — Sumnjor-night'e dream ! All fantastic , Aimless is my aong . Yes , aimleas As our love and as our living , As Creator and creation I His own will alone obeying , Galloping along or Hying , Revolt ) lit the realms of fable My beloved Pegasus . He s no serviceable * , virtuous Cart-horse of the citizens , Nor a battle-steed of party , ' With pathetic neighs and stamping ! Golden-mounted aro the hoofs all Of my white and winged oliargor , Cords of poarls tho guiding reins aro . Aad at will I lot him wander . Boar mo whoreaoo ' or thou wouldost I Over stoop and merry hill-paths , VVhoru cascades with mournful shrieking ' Warn ' gainst madneas'd abyseea I Boar mo on through silont valleys , Whore tho solemn oaks are standing , Whllo primeval swuot traditions From their knotted roots have birth I 3 Let mo drink thoro , while I molaton My dim eyes . —< ah , now I languish Jgor the BpnrklinK wondrous water " » hftt imparts both sight and kaowlodgo 1 All my bllndno » fl goes l my gvwe l'ioreos to tho dcupuat rock-cleft , To the cave of Atfk ° J ? roH , ' And I understand JUIh Innguago 1 Sfc »;» nffo ' «« howrfAmmar to mo 'I' ^ lsboar-limffuaffo W ow apponroth I In my dour homo a never ^ Heurd thouo sounds In curlier d » ya 7

      Untitled Article

      RICHARD FEVEUEL . A History of Father and Son . By George Meredith . In 3 vols .. Chapman and Hall . " The Ordeal of Richard Fcverel" can T > e designated less as a novel than as a philosophical criticism upon the various methods of educating children . Education is perhaps one of the most difficult sciences in the world ; not because it is difficult to brin" out the minds of the young , but because it is so difficult to discover whether or not you are leading it in the right direction . And , moreover , it carries " with it so grave a responsibility that no one who is not certain of his capabilities to instruct and enlighten , ought to take upon himself the task oi leading forth the bud with the flower .

      The ordeal of Richard Feverel is the story of a mistaken system of education . Deserted—when his child is in its infancy—by a wife of whom he was dotingl y fond , Sir Aitstin Feverel forms unto himself a system of education for his only son , which he supposes will enable Mm to escape ' from the vices and temptations of the world . Not even from his earliest infancy does " the system" work well ; when he is a child he is wild , wilful , wayward , unapproachable ; when he is fourteen he is almost transported in consequence of his desire for

      deadly revenge . Feeling insulted bv his father ' s request to strip before the doctor , in order that he may be examined as to any ailment which may affect his fiiture prospects , he sallied forth upon a hunting expedition with one of his friends . Shooting a partridge belonging to a neighbouring farmer , he is horsewhipped by this injured worthy , and—^ wailed and breathing deadly enmity—lie departs to meditate upon future venjronhce . He falls unluckily enough upon a man who is out of work , and for " a consideration '•* this unfortunate is

      persuaded to set fire to one of Farmer Lhuzc s hayricks—Farmer Blaize being the enemy . In the course of the evening , therefore , the farmer ' s hay goes " to blazes ; "" and the boys , unconscious that Sir Austin sees them and overhears their conversation , stand flattening their noses against the windnw-TMUiea . Aiiiivtrinnr tho fim TT 1 « -J » v »«*« l— - ~ i course , the boy is detected—has to beg pardon , and the affair is cleared up , although poor Tom Bakewell stands a very good chance of being transported for life . At length , after many minor episodes , the lad marries at nineteen a heroine ot eighteen ; and after a three months' honeymoon subsides into a careless , reckless , man about town He has married without his father ' s consent , and

      leaving his spouse in the Isle of Wight , he comes up to London to obtain his father ' s forgiveness . The " system" now begins to work . Somehow or another his father has some crotchetty idea that ho ought to be left to himself for sonic time , and accordingly , for about nine months , Mr . Kichnrd Feverel is left to his own resources in the great metropolis , awaiting in anxious suspense his father ' s coming . In hid London experiences he meets with certain bland and easy gentlewomen , who bestow their favours upon the first handsome man they meet , and falls in love , as he supposes , with one ot them . . The result of this is that he disgraces himself—is ashamed to go home to his wife—rambles about with his inamorata ; and at length , upon

      learning that a man has desired to seduce his wife , returns homo to say good-byo , anil fights a duel . His wife dies of brain fever , and ho h left to the reader ' s imagination . The story , although it continues throughout to be wild , fantastic , and in some degree enervating , is not without its moral or its purpose . JBut wo doubt if young people will read iL . Although it begins hopefully , . it ends too disaatrouHly . Through tho mist of morbidity and gloom winch porvndes the commencement wo seem to recognise " a good time comings" but whon we come to the end we arc unnecessarily nnd wofully disappointed . Oeoryo Meredith can write -well and ooncoiv ' c grandly , but ho has yet to loanx to correct , or ut any rato to conceal , his eccentricities .

      Untitled Article

      Goethe's Faust , with Critical and Explanatory Notes , By G . G . Zorfll , Ph . Dr . Simpkin , Marshall and Co T « h notes to this edition of " Jfauet" will bo found extremely useful . Tho annotator has rightly aimed at the explanation of grammatical & idlomatlo difficulties , and has endeavoured to point out tho many hidden allusions with which tho work abounds , and which are tho source of ao muoli of its supposed obscurity . We may add , in his own words , that 1 Sketches Are given hero and there of German life

      Untitled Article

      . THE LEAPEB . TXo . 484 . Jtoy 2 , 1859-^

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), July 2, 1859, page 798, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2301/page/18/