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64 NOTICES OE BOOKS.
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
. « *» . Andromedaand Other Poems, By Ch...
part of the visible man . It is thus , in a great degree , that RafFaelle has dealt with his ' Julius the Second / and Vandyck with
his ' Gevartius . ' But we may surely be spared these details , when the likeness is taken from a distance at which they cannot be
distinctly seen . They then become falsehoods in art . All this is not strictly applicable , perhaps , to the poetry or prose
of Mr . Kingsley : they are obiter sayings , applicable rather to the phalanx generally , of which this gentleman is a member , than
to each individual soldier . Mr . Kingsley is a writer of great talent ; eloquent , learned ,
sincere , sometimes a little wilful or one-sided . He does not resort to Claudeor Claude-like landscapes for his scenery , nor for
, converse to the shepherd of the hills ; he does not consult dealers in common-place maxims or pithy truths ; but his inspiration has
been sought in the lanes and hovels , amidst the vice and misery and turbulence of the fiercest class of men . He has _broug-ht away much of
prejudice their eloquence . His , s ome Alton of Locke their , ' wisdom goes to , and the not extremest a little verge of their of
radicalism . He pours forth a vast deal to excite discontent , and offers little to allay it . The book , indeed , sometimes _begets a doubt
whether the author has very clear or precise notions of the truths which he proposes to establish . You invest him sometimes with the
ultra opinions of his hero , and sometimes you come to the conclusion that he is merely pointing out his errors . That the book is
unsatisfactory we cannot doubt , seeing that there are maxims or opinions propoundedwhich are adverse to those which Mr . Kingsley appears
, to consider best , at the end of his task . And these rankle and remain as poison in the reader ' s mind ; and are more likely to irritate
and perplex the intellect of a young * and sincere reader , than any thing * that we remember in modern literature .
Mr . Kingsley ' s poetry is by no means free from this taint . In the powerful verses entitled * The Bad Squire , ' what object is there in
denouncing what is good , or what is intended to be good , except it be to widen the breach between the poor and the wealthy ?
" Can With you , handfuls lady , patch of coal hearts and that rice are breaking " , ;
Or A by little dealing below out cost flannel price and ? sheeting
" You And may take tire to of allotments the jail and and the scho workhouse ols , ; But Be you paid ' ve us run by up penny a debt -club that rules will . " never
Now , we are of opinion that it is not the province of poetry to perpetuate bitter and revengeful feelings , by branding with a mean and
shameful stigma , deeds which , ninety-nine times out of a hundred , have had their origin in a good and Christian feeling . It is in vain
to Bad rep S ly quire that ? these adverted sneer to in are the app poem licable . They only ( will dramaticall live and y ) be to acted < The
64 Notices Oe Books.
64 NOTICES OE BOOKS .
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Citation
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English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), Sept. 1, 1858, page 64, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01091858/page/64/
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