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Leader (1850-1860), 5th November 1859, Edition 2 of 2, Page 19, NEW EDITIONS. ^ i^fflSSf^gii FOUJtTW. By...

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      Literary Keminiscencjfis And Memoius Of ...

      Wyoming , " a poem now somewhat out of fashion but of rare excellence . Campbell ^ lectures at the Boyal Institution on poetry give Mr . Reddmg the oDDOiinihity of lecturing Ms shade on his desultory habits of study in this life ,, and his irregular methods of working . Campbell ,- in fact , was -slow in composition , not being a day labourer , but a master workman , whose " wisdom grew on opportunity of leisure . " Mr . Hedding falls «\ t ° tlie mistake of thinking that Campbell should have written more instead of "better . Why should Pegasus be mated with the plough-horse or ox i Why should the poet be expected to be a bookseller ' s drudge ? The poet was not indolent , but self-improving . His knowledge , never up to the mark , had to be rendered more and more complete , when he proposed to himself a new labour . It is now proper that we should permit Mr . Redding to give his own notion of poetry , old and new : — " With the ' Pleasures of Hope' the existing school of poetry claims little affinity . To . polish and refine the verses which inspiration , real or fancied , produces , is out of fashion . Like the cheap goods of modern manufacturers , not made to last , but sell , quantity and celerity of production find most favour in the ' discerning ' public . It seems audacious to advocate , even in a measured degree , the mistakes of ceftarh ancients , committed for some thousands of years , and by our better writers in later times , before it was discovered by the ' Lake Poets ' that the productions of the muse need no painstaking in language or imagery , and that to folloV the customary course of things in all other arts is in poetry stark heresy , the ' ideal' being designated in spontaneous language must follow : nature . No matter if writers in this mode break their own laws , it is only a species of lapsus , when it incidentally occurs . The true poetic vein is the language taken from the mouths of men under the influence of natural feeling , let it be as low as it may , says the great apostle of the hew school , wliile continually breaking his own irrevocable law in practice . To this modern school , poetical diction , brilliant imagery , terse phra . se-, ana lines breathing of beauty in the execution , are no ways tolerable . The overburdened ass cannot alone be pitied , it must be hailed as ' brother * by one , and be made the liero of his tale by another . Fit audience , though few , will alone be found to admire a poem like the ' Pleasures of Hope . ' Grace and beauty , fancy and feeling , may be blended in its composition , the language may be somewhat above that of every-day life , yet on this ground it was condemned and lectured against by a host of critics ; of whom , for one who understands the mere rudiments of his business , there are at least a dozen good authors . Who does not feel that all this censure is vain ? The law of the past will be emergent above the ware of time , together with what it justifies . The most finished productions will have the longest duration , the mists of error dispersing before the sun-burst of a purer taste with the many works to come , Like a piece ofharmonious music which has von some great Apollonian wreath for the owner , that carries in its foliage perfume and colours rich with genius , this poem bears along sense with sound , while the antitheses stamp the sentiment indelibly upon the memory , under impressions calculated to exalt eminently the pride of the lyre . The defect of the poem , according to some , is an oversweetness which cloys in poetry as in condiment , If it be really too sweet for some palates , lot it le taken like virgin honey , a portion at a time , and let them be the more happy in protracting their enjoyment . " Such is Mr . Hedding ' s jtoetical creed . He is entitled to it , so long as ho " gives a reason lor the faith that is in him . " " Wo Imye no intention of combatting his heresies . Suffice it , that lie ' has written , in the present , a conscientious and in * terosting book , and that- the admirers of his poetfriencl will receive it with well-meritod thankfulness .

      -Kt~ «N9,. ¦' ¦ ¦ Nwv. 5. 1859.1 The Lea...

      -kt ~ « n 9 ,. ¦' ¦ ¦ NWv . 5 . 1859 . 1 THE LEADER * 1231

      Tjuhq Makvellous Advjbntu1ub8 And Rake C...

      TJUHQ MAKVELLOUS ADVJBNTU 1 UB 8 AND RAKE CONCEITS OV MASTER TYI ^ L' OWLGL . A 8 S . Nowly collected , ohroniolod , nnd eot forth in our Kngltali Tongue , by Konnotl * II , H . Mnokonzlo , F . 8 . A . Adorned with many moat diverting and cunning dovloos , by Alnod CrowqulU . —Trllbnor and Co . Tub love of light literature is based on qualities which are universal in all ages and all races . The fabulist the story-teller , the joker , hayo boon , are , and -will over be , acceptable , not only to tho inultitude but tho learned . We all like to have our minds agreeably stimulated and . quaff this dramlike portion of literature with delight . The fables ofiGsop or Pilpay , the jokes ot Joe MiUor , the

      ,, anecdotes of the Italian and Navarrene story-: tellers , the gossip of Brantome , the anas ^ of all ; countries , are . welcome everywhere , and will live ¦ though writing and printing should be abolished . Every country has its own collection of this kind ¦ of matter , and some one author on whom all the , good things are put . The Germans have a celebrated one , which has gained a universal reputation , and which delighted our forefathers in an old black-latter translation as much as our children will be delighted with this edition by Mr . Mackenzie and Mr . Crowquill . Master Eulenspiegel , or , as we translate it , Owlglass , it is pretended , was an actual person , and even a gravestone is shown at a village in Saxony called Mollen ; but , as we know , the gravestone of our Joe Miller was to be seen in the churchyard now occupied by the new hospital in Lincoln ' s-inn-fields , and yet no one attributes to him the jokes in the popular book which goes by his name . The only certainty about this German collection is that a monk , named Thomas Murner , a Doctor of Divinity , published in a collected form the many anecdotes somewhere in the commencement of the sixteenth century . He also entered into the controversy with Luther , and wrote a defence of our polemical monarch , Henry the Eighth , when tli & t burly disputant aspired to be a Defender of the Faith . Dr . Murner ' s jest book gained , however , much more popuT larity here than his theological work , being translated twice into the then popular black letter , besides being pilfered and " adapted " by the rude dramatists of the time . It is almost superfluous to sa ^ f that this work is but one of many which delighted the open-hearted and merry populace of the middle ages ; a class of writing which may be said to have been bred and created by the popular manners and notions . Mr . Mackenzie has made diligent use of all editions , and has judiciously founded his version of the hundred and eleven stories , on the old English translation , of Henry the Eighth ' s time . By this means he has imparted the flavour of antiquity to the style , whilst he has freed it from the incumbrances of the obsolete language and spelling . He has also , with excellent taste and skill , purged it of all thegrossness which invariably accompanied any jocular work in . the middle ages . He has , in truth , executed his work with great judgment , and , as far as we can judge , with considerable talent , for he has imparted to his little narrative , the force and vigour of original composition . All that can be collected of the work and its origin he has put readily into appendices , and we cannot , indeed , imagine a prettier and more interesting edition of this famous old German book . It will delight young and old ; and the careful , artistic , and humorous designs of Mr . Crowquill will equally please th , e children , both of large and small growth . The publisher has been equally zealous , and has supplied paper , printing , and binding with g reat taste , in perfect accordance with the contents and illustrations of the work . Altogether , we cannot doubt its popularity , especially as a Christinas gift . ¦

      New Travels. Ten Years Of A Filkacheit's...

      NEW TRAVELS . TEN YEARS OF A FilKACHEIt'S LIFE . By William Henry Milburn , author of " -Kiflo , Axe , and Su'ddlo Bags , "—Sampson Low and Son . Mb . Milburn is known in England ns the author of * ' Rifle , Axe , and Saddle Bugs , " but in America he is also known as one of that noble little band of pioneers who travel about among the half oivilised people of the doscrts of America , teaching tho Gospel and the manners of civilised life . In tho ten years of his preacher . life Mr . Milburn has travelled over nearly 80 , 000 miles , of which a treat deal of his experiences is given in the work oforo mentioned . Being nearly blind from his childhood wo miss tho word painting so often displayed by our travellers . It may bo said , how can a man being blind write an interesting book of travels P Mr . Milburn has done so . nevertheless ; and what is wanting in , poetical description is more than made up to tho reader in observations on manners aad customs of the numerous peoples with whom the writer came in contact . Many were tho adventures that *? Billy , " as he was familiarly called , encountered , of which , through his infirmity , he acted tho principal part . Mr . Arthur , who has written an introduction to tho volume before us , states that" With a curious little glass , he ( Mr . Milburn ) has

      tried to spell out the outline of an old rum , and I evidently caught no more than to an ordinary person j would suffice for evidence that grey walls and green ivy did exist on the spot . But 'his quesl" tions , his mode of stimulating one to describe , and s his incomparable power of combining , in an inward view , the filling up suggested by words , with the outline vaguel y traced on his eye , enable him to see before his mind much more than niany with two bright eyes . " . Mr . Milburn argues that of sight and heaving , hearing is the greatest blessing . This has been argued" before in a very able English work— " The Three Chances . " Upon which Mr . Arthur says : — " That wonderful ear ( Mr . Milburn ' s ) , trained to interpret voice , till every tone lets out secrets unsuspected and unsought by ordinary men , detects the physical temperament , the height , the degree of vigour , the education , the temper , the society , the moral tone of the speaker in a few conversations—ay , in one . " Mr . Milburn was not more than twenty years of age when he joined the hardy band of travelling- Methodist preachers , in whose ranks there were , and are still , men of great natural talents , of a cheerful and - worthy disposition , many of whom might be taken as models of " muscular Christianity . " Of this class Peter Cartwright , known to us as the Backwoods' Preacher , is a , fair specimen . To many of these preachers it is * a life of danger , as the places selected for preaching are often twenty miles apart , and that across a wild prairie . It may be imagined that it was doubly dangerous to Mr . Milburn , yet he did it , and that alone with only bis faithful . steed , to whom he pays a feeling tribute . In this manner , during the first year , he travelled over three thousand miles and preached nearly four hundred times ; his congregation often consisted of three or four people , and those of the most rude-mannered and ungodly class . The training of these preachers is worth recording . A young man , during the first year , is called a helper ; he is placed u nder the 1 tutorship of some experienced in the life , and if in , that time he can preach before a congregation ^ themselves among the number , and can pass an examination before a meeting of seniors ,- he becomes a regular preacher , with pay . Sometimes it happens that these good fathers are obliged to speak disparagingly of their charge . Mr . Milburn gfves an instance : — "A young man in my position , as a helper , was complained of at his quarterly conference , to the effect , first , that he could not preach ; second , that he was * attentive to all the girls around the circuit , a third , that he was constantly engaged in swopping horses . In defending himself he stated—first , that he knew as well as any of them that he could not preach , and he was sure it did not trouble them as it did him ; second , that they need not be alarmed at his attention to the girls , for he would not think of marryi n " the daughter of any man . present ; and third , as to trading in horses , what else was ho to do ? They paid him npthing , and he had no other way of making money enough to buy his clothes . " This little extract will give our readers a little notion of the humorous , though simple , style of Mr . Milburn ' s little book , which breathes a manly and cheerful self-dependence under his great affliction . In the second year of his backwoods prcaclunglhe was offered the chaphunshipof the Congress of tile United States through lecturing some of the members while on board an Ohio steamboat for using obscene language ! From hw pos ^ on he collected many anecdotes of that distinguished body , which arc given in the little volume before us ! with some wonderful ( for n blind man ) portraitures of the principal members , which wo recommend our readers to become acquainted with .

      New Editions. ^ I^Fflssf^Gii Foujttw. By...

      NEW EDITIONS . ^ i ^ fflSSf ^ gii FOUJtTW . By William Junwa . Aw udlUoa . with JddMoiw uua notes , In six voluinoa .-lileluiru Bo . itloy . These volumes complete tho work which has boon continued to the Battle of Navamio . . " James ' s Navul History " is , incomparably , tho best naval history extant , and tho ro-issue of it at this time , when there is so much talk about our naval supremacy , is very opportune . The , work treat * of tho time when wo proved that our navy wai master of the seas . No library , pubho or private , can bo said to bo complete without the work .

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Nov. 5, 1859, page 19, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_05111859/page/19/