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    Untitled Article

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    MR. ALBERT SMITH'S WILD OATS, &a*

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    THE BOOK OP VAGABONDS AND BEGGARS.*

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    Untitled Article

    time , what it ought to be , symbolic . The heroine , Naamah , only too beautiful , has two cousins -with whom she has grown up until her sixteenth year , " scarce knowing which , if either , she loved best . " To one of them , Wilfred , she is betrothed . But Wilfred has to leave her for awhile , bound in duty to carve out a fortune for himself and her . His brother Gabriel , owing to his physical weakness , is kept at home . Now Gabriel is a poet , and soon infects poor Naamah with the delicious poison that , inspiration to Mm , was to heir madness . Wilfred returns , to find himself bereaved of his promised bride . Yet he seeks not revenge ; but , desirous of his brother ' s happiness , surrenders Naamah to her new lover . The father , however , is indignant ; and , as he had never loved the poor invalid Gabriel , whom he thought indolent , and whose merits he could not appreciate , exhausts his anger on the offending youth . Wilfred then travels into the Holy Land , bearing his cross willingly . Hence the title of the poem : — " In my heart I hold it dear , this sacred Passion Flower ! My mother taught me as a child to trace Within its cup the cross and crown of thorns , Which one day must be borne by all-who live . " But what of Gabriel and Naamah ? They , too , have their Cross . They feel that they both have sinned . Nasunah interprets her fault severely . Consciousness of it makes her compassionate towards others . Hence : — " She deemed it not reproach , to stand alone , As Christ stood , with the wretched and the vile , And plead His promises of better life . ! Nor scorn , nor chaste reproof upon her lip , B lit beaming through the tears in her niild eyes Compassion lowly , tender , -womanly , Oft would she take within her own the hand . Of some poor erring sister , bowed to earth With sense of wrong and hopeless misery ; Oft would she kneel beside her , flushed with zeal , Affectionate , andin heart-soothing tones--- " ( All strange to such forlorn one ) bid her trust In Him j who ' wrote upon the ground , ' -whose words , ( Amid the cruel and bloodthirsty throng , [ Fiends panting for their prey ) ^^ struck iwe and shame Into each coward self-accusing heartf Let him that has not sinned , first cast a stone !' Not one , but all have erred ! in secret some—And some in open dayr—and nought of guilt , Whether of thought or deed , is hid from God , Who reads the heart . " . The dramatic propriety of this is evident . It reminds us of th e question put by Lear to Glo ' ster : — " Hast thou given all ; To thy unkind daughters ? And is it come to this ?' But we must hasten to the close of this melancholy lay . Wilfred having succeeded in winning his father to pardon the young couple , proposes to return , and all is expectation of happier days . But a storm arises , an he is drowned in sight of shore . His 'corpse- ^ s- ^ rought—to- ^ abrielT—w-ho- ^ bends-. oyer it in ,. . inc ur able-, sorrow . So deep is his despair , that even his harsh father ' s heart relents into tenderness . But his ownis fatallysmitten . Naamah becomes a widow—but also a mother ; and in her child finds the consolation that she needs for her sin-born sorrow . Air this is finely conceived , and beautifully executed . The remaining poems are chiefly lyrical . They breathe a devout and religious spirit , and are for the most part elegantly versified . She has looked , too , into the deep places of the soul , and appears to have had experiences of suffering , however favourably placed she may have been in society , and to have learned the lessons of patience and resignation that such experiences always teach . That she has , moreover , been a sedulous and critical reader of the Bible is manifest , and has derived therefrom a vigour of style and imagery , and a power of natural description , mingled with elevated sentiment , which distinguishes her poetry from the monotonous mediocrity with which the press almost daily teems . We wish her every success .

    Untitled Article

    752 The Saturday Analyst and Leader . [ Aug . 25 , 1860

    Mr. Albert Smith's Wild Oats, &A*

    MR . ALBERT SMITH'S WILD OATS , &a *

    The Book Op Vagabonds And Beggars.*

    THE BOOK OP VAGABONDS AND BEGGARS . *

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    This curious and interesti-np ^ tnu » t-hu 8 , v ^ - « 1 > y Mr . Jlotten , who shows as much research in his inyestifra- tionH as ho does tuwto in the production of his books . In his introduction ho enters into a learned dissertation on the history . ot vnirnhondiNin , a subject ho has previously illustrated in his " D \ ctionnry of Cant Words . " Ho rightly attributes tho great spread ol beggary to the extension of tho mendicant portion of the ecclesiastical system , and shows , tirnt at the time of tho Kefbrmation » tn » m reached its acme . Tho Germans in tins , as in nil other matters ^ " * Tlw Book' Hf Vmiaboml * ami Jleut / a > ' *> «•«* « Vocabulary of ( Mr f' {* Vf ""^[ Kililyjl by Martin J-uthor , Iti tlio Your 1528 . . Now llrnt trunHlnted Into hiifillrili . w »» lutrwVictIon and Noto * , by . ' ^"'» Ciimaon Hotten , T . qiuIoh : J . 0 . Hotten .

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    WE have before us a book of odds and onds , from the able you of the late Albert Smith . . This volume , which comprises several original stories , a number of pooms , some translations , somo parodies upon eminont English poets , and a collection of stray chapters upon a variety of subjects , is now issued to tho public under the superintendence of tho author ' s brother , Mr . Arthur Smith . Interesting as tlioy are in thomsolves from the brilliancy and vivacity of tho writing , those " Wild Oats and 'PjoadjLeayeB "_( suoh boing tho appropriato titlo givon to this colleotion oFiordps ahdsnatohoi ) afo rondofoct dWbly ~ sb ~ frOnV'tbe ~ melancholy circumstances which attended tho death of one of our most popular humourists and successful caterers for public amusement .- xho author informs us in hia preface that tho stray loaves which bomposo tho present volume wore his earliest essays in magazine writing , and that in thorn no attompt will bo found to " alter existing institutions , advanoo progress , or provide lntelleotual food lor tho masses . " Believing that " of every dozen peoplo who tako up a book , olovon . do so for amuBemont , ' ho ' ~ " \ vii , i oats and Demi / . rove * . Mv Awiiciit Smith . London : Oliniminn anil Hall . T ^^ hm » S !'^;^ -BnCmlm //«• Convic t . My Charles liowcroft , IS . * .. author of "' -TaluH In tho ( JolnnleH . " l . omltui : -ThoinnH Ho . lgHon .

    wisely enlists his talents in the service of the majority . Agreeably with this resolution the author commences his volume , with three entertaining stories ( evidently intended for th « edification of juvenile readers ) , which he calls " Thefts from the Percy lteliques , " . and in each of which the mystical Hang Arthur and his fair Queen , Guinevere , flourish in good old English fewon * Of course these stories all contain appropriate moral * , wnicn the author , at the termination of each fictitious harangue , most satisfactorily elucidates for the benefit of all whojnay need enlightenment upon the subject . In the first of these legends , designated by our author " The Boy and the Mantle , " a quaint old gentleman , of dwarf-like dimensions , suddenly makes his appearance before King . Arthur , the knights of the Round Table , and all the assembled lords and ladies of the court . This eccentric personage presents to the king a mantle , possessed of the wonderful capacity of adapting itself to all sorts of shapes and sizes ; this , he assures the female portion of the company , no lady who is not « Jxue « t heart to her liege lord" will be able to fit appropriately to her person . The experiment is tried by all the ladies in succession , commencing with the queen , but in every instance proves unsuccessful ; the triumph is ultimately reserved for the gentle Lady Hose Caradoc , who , says the chronicler , " bore her honours very meekly , " and thorebv enhanced herself considerably in her husband ' s esteem . The " author winds up by telling us that the mantle was siniply " the embodiment of an easy conscience , which , whatever external appearances might be , would not accommodate itself in anywise to frames in which guilt and deception lurked . We have then two or three smart chapters upon " ghosts and prodigies , " followed by a most amusing description of a Uo-ahead Day with Barnum . " m Further on in the volume w find a clever parody on lennyson s celebrated poem , of the " May Queen . " Grieved as ^ we , and all true lovers of poetry , must be to see this really beautiful composition perverted into a mere vehicle for showing ott tne talents of burlesque writers , yet the manner m which ^ Mr . bmitn has executed this little bit of innocent caricature will with the public serve as his . best apology . But , perhaps , the iunniest chapters in the book are those relating to the adventures of Mr . Straffffles ; The author here tells us , in ludicrous language , -how Mr . Straggles went cheap to Ascot , how Mr . ^ traggles ate whitebait at Greenwich , and how Mr . Straggles did a variety ol other things , for the full particulars of which we refer the reader to the papers themselves . ' The book winds up with a new ^ ranslation oi Burger ' s celebrated- poem , " Lenora , " in . which the versifying talents of Mr . Smith appear to advantage . In rendering the sense-echoing words of the original , he is happy , late a stanza : — . : , " Hush ! listen ! listen ! tramp—trainp—tramp ! A courser ' s steps she counted , The rider next , with clattering stamp , Before the porch dismounted . And listen ! at the gate , » ring , . Sounds faintly—softly—kling—ling—hng ! And then came through the portal , These words , distinctly mortal . ' ! The next work on our list is " Xhe Bushranger ; oTr ^ F ^ Brandon the Convict , " a Avork written with a view to the correction of any erroneous notion which might have gained ground m this country relative to the treatment of our convicts abroad ; namely , - " that transportation to our penal settlements is not to bo lookea upon in tho light of a punishment , but rather as a desirable change of country , where every leniency is shown to the criminal , and every facility afforded him both for the acquisition ol large fortune , and tho retricydlof his lost character . " It is easy to understand how , with , a certain class of society , an . . assumption ^ of this kind would act as a stimulant to oyil actions , and be tne source of muchultimate mischief and confusion . Iho present story was intended as a refutation of the popular fallaoy ; and in our estimation Mr . Roworoft has treated his subject in the most ablo manner , and complotely succeeded in setting at rest tno ouostion in dispute . Tho history of Mark Brandon , the convict , and hero of the book , is a sufriciont illustration of tho punishment , siiilering , and remorse , whioh invariably follow the commission of great crimes , and from which a life in tho penal settlements is by no moans calculated to exempt us . Iho author possosses considerable power of language , and his description 01 life in tho bush must have forcibly aroused tho interest ol oven tho most indifferent of readers . Indeed , "Mark Brandon" possesses a reality and zest in its various descriptions of early Australian lifo and sconory which is not always to be fouud in novels oi its class .

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Aug. 25, 1860, page 752, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2362/page/8/