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December 1, 1855.] 1 THE LEADER. 1157 i ...
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ROBERT BROAVNING'S MEN AND WOMEN. Men an...
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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.
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Among The Minor Dialogues Of Pi-Ato None...
of popular joy . But that he may Dot be supposed to spare the terrorists , we quote the peroration of this chapter : " France , Revolution , Liberty , how dearly have you expiated . that crime against nature ! The world could no longer understand , mingled with the groans of the Abbaye , your hymns of fraternity and deliverance . Between you and it a red veil hung , behind which it could not see all that was heroic in your achievements , or all that you promised to perform . You were the life , the nations sought you ; they found the living linked with the dead , and they recoiled affrighted . " The memory of Saint Bartholomew , or of the Sicilian Vespers , formed no extenuation of these crimes . Nor should it be pleaded , in mitigation of the prison massacres , that the same doors had once been stained with the blood of the Armagnacs , shed by the Burgundians . The friends of liberty have no privilege to crime—least of all to the habitual crime of tyrants .
The struggle of the Mountain with the Gironde , and the trial of the Kin <* , occupy the three concluding chapters . M . Louis Blanc pursues his analysis throughout , subjecting every document to criticism , and every critic to the test of contemporary evidence . His work is thus a ripe history , by which we mean a history composed of all the necessary materials — finished , polished , purified , and arranged in harmony . Its accuracy does not take from the ease and richness of the style . In another respect M . Louis Blanc ' s work is a model . Ic disposes events—each with its proper accessories—as well as characters—each closely pourtrayed—in groups ; gives them a dramatic motion , and never loses the momentum of a well-trained eloquence . '
_ __ . . It by no means follows from this estimate of the history that we accept all its conclusions . M . Louis Blanc , we believe , understates some circumstances , and overstates others . When his work is completed , and all its parts are examined in their mut ual relations , certain passages may be referred to which will not bear criticism . But he may claim the high merits of integrity and industry . He has gone for evidence to the best sources , and he has the power of reproducing tlie essence of every authentic record in a style at once serious and charming . His history lays open new aspects of the French Revolution , and it should have the effect of modifying the popular view of that event , in England as well as in France .
December 1, 1855.] 1 The Leader. 1157 I ...
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Robert Broavning's Men And Women. Men An...
ROBERT BROAVNING'S MEN AND WOMEN . Men and Women . By Robert Browning . In Two Volumes . Chapman and Hall . ( first article . ) Robert Browning seems to us unmistakeably the most original poet of the day We do not say the highest in reach , the most perfect m art , but the most distinctively original . Tennyson and Mr . Browning have both , we believe , more of that iadescribahle quality which is indicated by the phrase , poetic genius ; but in both the parentage is obvious . Although we cannot call them imitators , we recognise their affinity to the poets who preceded them . In Robert Browning we detect no such parentage . He stands alone . JHe writes as if Wordsworth , Shelley , Coleridge , Keats had never been . 1 ' or Shelley and Keats he has an avowed love , but no trace of their influence is visible . If anv affinities between his poetry and that of predecessors are to be found , they must be sought in our old dramatists rather than in any
modern writer . .. This quality , which is surely very precious and rare , will necessarily act as a barrier to bis popularity . It " puts the reader out . " He hears unfamiliar accents , and must learn to accommodate his ear to them , llus , however , is the more difficult , because Browning ' s manner is not only unusual , but abrupt , puzzling , needlessly obscure . He cramps Ins thoughts in hemistichs , instead of giving them space and air . He obscures what might otherwise be intelligible by some whimsical turn or title , which carry the mind away from the obvious meaning . We need not dwell on this much and iustly noticed obscurity in a poet , who , like Browning , may be supposed to have settled down in his manner , from which no criticism now can move him . It is enough to indicate the point in passing , and to warn the reader , in reading him , not to give way impatiently-not to be provoked by what may seem mere whim and perversity , but to give some time and thought , r . -i i . i . _» . * i « »»»»» . vv . ; s > H / i ;& trr > R < a him me not without their value , it ne ssured that the which distress him are not without tiieir value , u ne
, a pages " observinely distil it out . " . , In Men and Women , all Browning ' s merits and all his old defects may he found . The same power of terse , suggestive writing ; the same abundance of imagery , forming , as it were , the flesh and substanc e of the verse , not often forced into external ornament—the tissue of the garment is of gold , not ot common stuff , with golden spangles glittering here and there-the same dramatic power of going out of himself , and speaking through his characters ; the same reach of knowledge and richness of observation ; and , to close this enumeration before we make a catalogue of his qualities , the same marvellous power of story-telling in verse , render these vo lumes as acceptable us they are original . Such defects as we may espy in the poems arc not the defects likely to mislead young poets ; and as Browning is not a youngster to protit by newspaper criticism , he may as well not be teased by it . Our space will be better filled with extracts . Here , for instance , is a little poem , which , except for the obscurity of the fourth stanza , is a complete history : — A WOMAN'S LAST WOIID . Lot ' s contend no more , Lovo , What ho false as truth is , Strive nor weep— FrtlHO , thtJ 0 ? ., . f 1 . All bo as before , Lovo , Where the serpent s tooth in , —Only sleep ! « »» " tUe tr < 3 ° — Whnt ao wild as words are ? Where the apple reddens —I and thou Never pry — In debate , as birds are , I' «» fc wc loH T ° , our K < lonH ' Hawk on bough ! . ^ alld l ! Soo tho creature ^ talking Bo «• < 5 aml hold mo While wo npoak— With a charm—Hush and hide tho talking , Bo a man and fold mo Cheek on chock J With thine arm !
Teach me , only teach , Love !— That shall be to-morrow As I ought Not to-night : I will speak thy speech , Love I must bury sor row Think thy thought— Out of Bight . Meet , if thou require it , —Must a little weep , Love ,. ¦ Bo th demands , . —Foolish me ! Laying flesh and spirit And so fall asleep , Love ,. In thy hands ! Loved by thee . We should like to quote " The Statue and the Bust ; " but it is too long , and we dare not spoil it by piecemeal citation . Take this story of—A LIGHT WOMAN . So far as our story approaches the end , Which do you pity the most of us three ?—My friend , or the mistress of my friend "With her wanton eyes , or me ? My friend was already too good to lose , And seemed in the way of improvement yet , When she crossed his path with her hunting noose And over him drew her net . When I saw him tangled in her toils , A shame , said I , if she adds just him To her nine-and-ninety other spoils , The hundredth , for a whim ! And before ray friend be -wholly hers , How easy to prove to him , I said , An eagle ' s the game her pride prefers , Though she snaps at the wren instead ! So I gave her eyes my own eyes to take , My hand sought hers as in earnest need , And round she turned for my noble sake , And gave me herself indeed . The eagle am I , with my fame in the world . The wren is he , with his maiden face . —You look away and your lip is curled 1 Patience , a moment ' s space ! For see—my friend goes shaking and white ; He eyes me as the basilisk : I have turned , it appears , his day to night , Eclipsing his sun ' s disc . And I did it , he thinks , as a very thief : " Though I love her—that he comprehends—One should master one ' s passions , ( love , in chief ) And be loyal to one ' s friends ! " And she , —sue lies in my hand as tame Aa a pear hung basking over a wall ; Just a touch to try and off it came ; "Tis mine ,--can I let it fall ? With no mind to eat it , that ' s the worst ! Were it thrown in the road , would the case assist ? 'Twas quenching a dozen blue-flies' thirst When I gave its stalk a twist . And I , —what I seem to my friend , you Bee—AVhat I soon shall seem to his love , you guesa . What I seem to myself , do you ask of me ? No hero , I confess . 'Tis an awkward thing to play with souls , And matter enough to save one ' u own . Yet think of my friend , and the burning coals He played with for bits of stone ! One likes to show the truth for the truth ; That the woman was light is very true : But suppose bho Bays , —never mind that youth What wrong have I done to you '( Well , any how , hero the story stayn , So far ' at leant a » I understand ; An < l , Kobert Browning , you writer of plays , Here ' s a subject made to your hand ! In < mite another way , and somewhat injured by a want of a line or two of explicit explanation , is this : — HOW IT STniKES A CQNTEMrOttAKY . I only knew one poot in my life : And this , or ( something like it , wan bin way . You saw go up an < l down Vallodolid , A man of mark , to know next time you saw . Hih very Horviceablo Bixit of black Wtm courtly once and coiiKciontioua Htill , And many might have worn it , thoug h , none did . : The cloak that somewhat shone and'uuewed the thread * Htul purpose , and the ruff , significance . Ho walkod and tapped tho pavement with \ un cano , Scenting tho world , looking it full in fuuo , An old dog , bald and bliudiah , at hitt UooIh . They turned up , now , the alloy by tho "' V ^" ' themHolvo ,. That leads no whither ; now , they biwatl . « 1 thcmnoiir On tlio main promonado junt at tho wr «» g umo-You'd come upon liiw HcnitiniHii » K " « fj Making a poakecl Hliade blacker than ' tH < l ! Against the single window Hpurod „ ou o < h »»» ° &^ & zx ? g & ^ l S ^^^ -HIT ^ S ^ l 11 .-
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Dec. 1, 1855, page 17, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_01121855/page/17/
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