Current:

Leader (1850-1860), 1st January 1859, Edition 2 of 2, Page 13, BALLADS AND SONGS. Ballads and Songs.—By...

Page 13
Page 13
13 of 32

On this page

  • Text (5)
  • Transcript

    • 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.

      Proverbs With Pictures. Proverbs With Pi...

      other " The course of true love never did run smooth , " is illustrated by a fat runaway , or rather crawl-away pair , who are making for the church on an old-horse who seems asleep , and who treads miserl y upon loose blocks of stone * like the stepfin ° -stones of a brook . We wind up with " All's well that ends well , " in which the actors on a stage seem all to have been killed , for they lie on their backs , \ vith their feet projecting beneath the curtain . These descriptions will give some faint idea of the design of the book , though a dash of the pencil can ronvev more than a page of writing . The book is

      intended for the drawing-room table , and the engravings are printed on the finest paper . The notions of the artist do not always lie broadly upon the surface ^ and . a second or third inspection of the pictures will bring out much that is not seen in the first . We might suggest to Mr . Bennett that he has portrayed pigs too often , and that he has shown a strong disposition to dwell upon the conventional idea of the battered , crape-circled , white sheriff ' s officer ' s hat ; but taking the book altogether , it is calculated to advance the well-earned reputation o the author of Shadows .

      Ko. 458, January 1, 1s59.1 The L, E A D ...

      Ko . 458 , January 1 , 1 S 59 . 1 THE L , E A D ]& J *«_____ JML ,

      Deborah's Diary. Dtboralis Diary. A Sequ...

      DEBORAH'S DIARY . Dtboralis Diary . A Sequel to " Mary Powell .- " A . Hall , Virtue , and Co . The quaint narrative of Mary Powell—afterwards Mrs ; Milton—rwith its ancient binding , type , and spelling , is not likely to be forgotten by readers of literary taste and poetic associations . And . here is

      a sequel thereto ; we have J ) e 6 ora / i ' s Diary , the diary . of Milton ' s daughter , the blind poet ' s chief amanuensis . There is something marvellous in the facility with which the author has impersonated the filial journalist , her secret feelings , her suppressed aspirations , her docility , her restlessness , her reverence , and-yet her free-thinking , and all those opposite moods which a daughter so placed with such a father and such a stepmother would naturally experience . Her sisters , the stepmother , and the mischievous maid-servant are also sketched in with admirableeffect . There is no force , no ostentation in the introduction of minute traits , but all take their piace in the easiest and most orderly manner . It is a moving picture of Milton ' s domestic life , charming in itself , and wondrously

      Given a blind old poet with a third wife , and his three daug hters restive under the dominion of a stingy stepmother , and the answer is precisely as Deborah states it . ¦ . •¦ ¦ * . The household is > as we have said , ] most faithfully depicted ; but what say we of its central figure ? Here have we Milton , not , as we have already intimated , as a hero , but a man . The portrait is , truly , most human and touching . He meets us at the very opening of the book—" Father in his tall arm-chair , Quite uprighte , as his fashion is when very . thoughtfulle "— -proposing to make himself and children , in the absence of the stepmother ,

      comfortable with some egg-flip , and chatting about the fairies , and his use of the god Pan in his " Hymn on the Nativity , " and his conversations with Charles Diodati , and other details of his former days . We next have him waking up Deborah at night , to jot down some new verses of his immortal poem . Soon after , the stepmother , an illiterate woman , appears on the scene ; but even toher , though annoyed , he is considerate . Then come news , of the plague , and the desirability of

      their retiring to Chalfont to escape its perils ; all the preliminaries of the journey , and the magnanimous bearing of the ever-patient , though sometimes angered and ever much-persecuted Bard . A thousand touches are thrown in , which bring out the character , clearly , . distinct ly , admirably . In . a word , the readers of Mary Voiced must read this sequel . The . one book is incomplete . without the other . Of the two , the present , perhaps , is the more artistic . We detect , here and there , a few modern phrases ; but this is a defect that is inevitable . In other regards , the book is almost faultless .

      suggestive . The mighty poet is here no hero , but a , poor blind man , dependent on bis daughter for the register of his mental operations— -loved , but little respected by his wife , who suffers too much from the stiii " of poverty to be able to believe in her husbania s greatness—and a rather irascible parent to his daughters Mary and Anne , somewhat less gifted than Deborah , the latter , too , being slightly deformed , Such is the group , a perfectly natural one , hiding the greatness that it really contained . The moral of the whole is cpuched in a few sentences . They are beautiful sentences , and worth quoting , if only for the concluding image , which is

      remarkably happy : — I grieve to think Mary can sometimes be a little spightfull as well as unduteous . She is ill at her Pen , and having To-day made somo Blunder , for which Father chid her , not overmuch , she rudely made Answer , " I never had a Writing-master . " Betty , being by , treasured up , as I" could see , this ill-natured Speech : and 'twas unfair too ; for , if we never had a Writingmaster , yet my Aunt Agar taught us ; nnd ' twas our own Fault if wo improved no more . Indued , wo have had a scrambling Sort of Education ; but , in many rtiepecta , our Advantages have exceeded those of ninny young Women ; and among them I reckon , first and foremost , continuall Intercourse with a superior mind . — If a Piece of mere Leather , by frequent Contact with

      Silver , acquires a certain Portion of the pure and bright Metal ; sure , the Children of a gifted Parent inuat , by the Collision of their Minds , insensibly as ' twere , imbibe Bomowhat of his finer parts . Nnd Phillips , indeed , say * th , « W ore like Peojrtt living ao close under a big Mountain , at not to know hoto High it it $ but I think wo nt least , I do , Yes , yes ; that was a grand thing to make tho filial Deborah set down in her diary , nnd throws a commanding light on tho whole subject . Under itsdireotion , tho author loads us to interpret Milton ' a OCmduct towards his children , partieulnrly in tho nuitter of " the nuncupative will , and to rcliovo them from the aspersion of having acted " un-W » d ) y" towards their father . The falsehood of ¦ Betty Ifishor ' a ovidenoo is , in particular , ilomonotrated , aud Deborah ' s motives for leaving tho paternal roof arc cleared of all suspicion . Tho aojution is , indeed , easy enough of tho whole .

      Ballads And Songs. Ballads And Songs.—By...

      BALLADS AND SONGS . Ballads and Songs . —By Edward Capern , Rural postman of Bidefbrd , Devon . W . Kent and Go . The distinction made by the German critics between the Singer and the Poet becomes more needful with the extension of intelligence . Wherever a man has begot the love of reading and the habit of writing , with an education limited in other respects , it is natural for'him to express himself in lyrical measures . It is thus he registers his rising thoughts , his

      m omentary feelings , his casual observations . No learning is demanded for all this ; nothing but so much poetical diction as may be gathered even from the popular songs of a district . A little practice will give a certain degree of facility of expression , and , with a little encouragement from a friendly , however humble circle , a sensitive thinker may easily acquire a local reputation as a singer : add to all this some probable accidental patronage * and he may rise into a sort of fame as such ; productions thus generated are properly enough esteemed as songs , it is not necessary that they should rise to the dignity of

      poems . Poetry , properly so called , requires something more ; and the poet , truly so named , is a far higher style of man , Not only the aptitude for lyrical expression is demanded , but suuh a cultivation in the art of metrical composition that the widest ranges of knowledge and the deepest reaches of philosophy may readily find a place , in the best order and method , with the most eloquent utterance- that the poetic nijnd can invent . Poetry produced under these conditions is fairly tho subject of criticism , but the effusion of the singer nppoals to sympathy ; it demands neither admiration nor analysis , but simply support nnd recognition .

      district of his native country . " Such , in his owx words , are the author ' s simple claims , and it / wouk be . absurdly unjust towards him to overstate them or to mistake his verses for more than they are . Mr . Capern ' s songs are distinguished for theii sweetness and cheerfulness . They are also to be re garded for the fitness to the themes which thej treat . The singer is riot ambitious of being a poli t-i-cal reformer , whether in Church or State ; but b < is content with celebrating the natural aspects oi things , all of which appear to him to be equalij good , whether the objects of nature or the customof the village are to he regarded . He sympathise *

      thoroughly with country folk . He enters into theii sports , their loves , their humble hopes and fears their difficulties and dangers . He would see , likewise , their social position improved , but is noi solicitous to bring into strong relief the contrast between them and the wealthy classes . The latter indeed , he accredits with a sincere desire to . helj them in every possible way ; nay , it is clear he has i reverence for rank and riches . He dedicates his book to Miss Burdett Coutts ; and probably ascribes her large-hearted benevolence" to every membei of the Order to which she belongs . Mr . Capern it not only a sweet singer , but one perfectly inoffensive and innocent .

      Among the latest of this class may bo honourably ranked Mr . Cupern , tho Devonshire postman , who 1 ms received considerable patronage for a volume of spontaneous effusions published not long ago , Of that volume he now sensibly observes , in his prefaco to tho present , that its favourable reception was duo to n kindly sense of its author ' s difficulties ; but that in n second venture tho case is changed . " It is not tho X ' oatman , " ho says , " but tho Poet , whom critica will now review . " The moaning of this is good , though the phrase is a little too fast . Concurring in all tho praiso bestowed on his former productions , mid in much tliat tho present will

      deservedly command , wo aro compelled to observe that , wcro ho yet taken at his word , 1 ) 6 would bo unjustly treated . It ia not as tho Poot that Mr . Cnporn can yot safely invite attention at present ; and perhaps alwaya ho must bo con tout with tho humbler , but still highly honourable , appellation of the Singer . Nor will he , wo aro conlldout , demur to tho proposed arrangoinont ; for-ho , sooma to hay-o'boon wonsoioua of tho truth wo ard enforcing , whoa writing his profaoo . In this tho author status that his rustic songs " ahpulil be judgoil as songa , originally written to bo aung rathor than to bo read . " Furthermore , ho tolla us , that . " ho has endeavoured to illustrate that singing clement which still lingers in tho northor »

      Our Veterans Of 1852. Our Veterans Of 18...

      OUR VETERANS OF 1852 . Our Veterans of 1852 . By a Regimental Officer . C . J . Skeet . The " Regimental Officer" should have given us his experiences a little earlier . The disasters and disgraces of Sebastoppl are by this time : i well-worn story . Three years have served to blunt the appetite and the resentment of the nation towards details of national or rather of official failure . The discusr sions and investigations which have occurred have pretty well laid bare the sources of our mishaps , and the harrowing arid humiliating tale of the dreadful sufferings of our brave soldiers , which prudence and foresight might have mitigated , if they could

      not wholly have prevented , is pretty familiar to all , But still personal experiences will continue to be welcome . They either add something to our previously large stock of information , or they corroborate facts -which have been made public through other sources . The present volume will be valuable iu this point of view . We cannot doubt that we have the results of actual experience j and though a good part of the book is evidently made up from newspaper statements and-official inquiries , enough of originality is to be found to cause the work to be widely read , and to be found deeply interesting . The narrative commences with the embarkation of the troops for Malta , and closes just after the battle of

      Inkermann and the storm in the Black Sea . The writer possesses great descriptive powers ; he has the rare talent of bringing scenes vividly before the reader ; he tells the story of the three important battles , Alma , Balaklava , and Inkermann in true soldierly fashion ; and he shows with fearful truth the dangers which the British army encountered through , want of proper military management and handling , and the miraculous way in which British honour and the British army were saved by stern , unflinching , unsurpassed British valour . Whenever the writer touches on purely military subjects he is at home , and he creates a vivid and lasting interest , Whenever he steps out of purely military details we

      hare attempts at lino writing , which is the besetting sin of writers of the present day . Neither can we wholly bow to his decisions on the respective merits of the various commanders in the Crimea . The " Regimental Officer" underrates the ability of Lord Raglan ; ho has too high an opinion of the merits of Generals De Lacy Evans and Colin Campbell as leaders . Wo will not , however , enter ' upon this debatable ground . Wo have said tho " Regimental Officer" has considerable literary powers ; we add that ho ' caii write with energy and feeling whenever tho occasion demands tho exorcise of those qualities . With somo reservations as to stylo and dicta , wo cordially recommend this work .

      A Few Out Of Thousands. A Few Out Of Tho...

      A FEW OUT OF THOUSANDS . A Few out of Thousands : their Sayings and Doings By Augusta Johusou . Groombr-idgo and Sons . Twenty stories illustrative of men and manners in various grades of society , have exorcised Miss Johnstone ' s pon . Wo cannot with a proper regard for truth toll tho public that these sketches have any very high literary merit , or that they betray a practical acquaintance witli tho classes , and tho individuals which they attempt to illustrate . Miss Johnatono possesses considerable facility of composition and a good deal of graphic powor . If she would exorcise hor undoubted abilities on subjects with which aho is personally conversant , no doubt we should havo somothing to say of a more thoroughly laudatory character than wo can conoiontiously say with rufereuue to this work .

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Jan. 1, 1859, page 13, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_01011859/page/13/