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Leader (1850-1860), 7th June 1856, Edition 2 of 2, Page 20

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      Transatlantic Latter-Day Poetry. Leaves ...

      Hoeing my onion-patch , and rows of carrots and parsnips . . . crossing savannas . . trailing in forests , _ , Prosnectiner e-old-diesrinsr . . - girdling the trees of a new purchase , % ZS £% ktU jgS y th ? hSsand f . hfuling my boat down the shal W river ; Where the panther walks to and fro on a limb overhead . . . where the buck turns furiouslv at the hunter , . Where the rattlesnake suns his flabby length on a rock . .. . where the otter is feeding on fish , .. Where the alligator in his tough pimples sleeps by the bayou , Where the black bear is searching for roots or honey . . . where the beaver pats the mud with his paddle-tail ; Over the growing sugar .... over the cotton plant .... over the rice in its low , moist , field ; Over the sharp-peaked farmhouse with its scalloped scum and slender shoots from the Over the western persimmon .... over the long-leaved corn and the delicate blue

      flowered flax ; . Over the white and brown buckwheat , a hummer and a buzzer there with the rest , Over the dusky green of the rye as it ripples and shades in the breeze ; Scaling mountains .... pulling myself cautiously up .... holding on by lov scragged limbs , Walking the path worn in the grass and beat through the leaves of the brush ; Where the quail is whistling betwixt the woods and the wheatlot , Where the bat flies in the July eve . . . where the great goldbug drops through the dark ; Where the f lails keep time on the barn floor , Where the brook puts out of the roots of the old tree and flows to the meadow , Where cattle stand and shake away f lies with the tremulous shuddering of their hides , Where the cheese-cloth hangs in the kitchen , and andirons straddle the hearth-slab , and cobwebs fall in festoons from the rafters ; Where triphammers crash . . . where the press is whirling its cylinders ; Wherever tlie human heart beats with terrible throes out of its ribs .

      The Home by tlie Sea . A Poem . By Thomas Buchanan Read . ( Philadelphia : Parry and McMillan . )—Whosoever likes a story steeped in morbid horrors , and pressing on the mind with a sickening weight of supernatural dread , will be pleased with this weird tale , in which suicides , ghosts , demons , a maniac , a reanimated corpse , and some miserable human beings trembling at their perpetual contact with the spirit-world , perform a disagreeable mAquerade by a wild sea-shore , among rocks and in a desolate house , amidst storms and darkness and livid light . The author seems to have based his poetical style in a great degree on that of Shelley , but on the most unhappy and least sterling elements of that great poet ' s genius . This particular poem , however , must have been written in a fit of somnambulism after reading Coleridge ' s " Ancient Mariner" and " Christabel . " Of the

      latter it more especially reminds us in the vagueness of the story , in its dusk diablerie ^ in the mysterious and beautiful ghost-lady , and in the irregular , overflowing octo-sy Uabic verse . We perceive by some criticisms of former works by Mr . Read , appended to the present volume , that he is recognized by several of his countrymen as one of the chief of American poets . For ourselves , we can only judge from the work now before us , which exhibits power , of an unhealthy kind , in some parts , together with a degree of weakness and conventionality in other parts , from which we should suppose that the author is still very young . But the effect of the whole is most unpleasant . It is as if we had been sitting in a charnel-house , surrounded by halfalive corpses , stirring about in the darkness and the close , hot air ; or as if we had but imperfectly recovered from a debauch of opium .

      The Poetical Works of Augustine Duganne . ( Philadelphia : Parry and McMillan . )—The Quaker city here presents us with a thick * large-sized octavo , crammed full of verses , satirical , lyrical , sonorous , and denunciatory . The author is a most vehement Republican , whose sympathies with tlie cause of the people are so cosmopolitan that he sings democratic hymns for half the nations of the earth , and loftily frowns down upon " Mr . Bull . " He has evidently got the gift of great fluency , for here in this one volume are poems enough for a lifetime , though the author ' s portrait , fronting the title-page , exhibits him a 3 a man yet in the freshness of his years . But his " facility" is not without the attendant "fatal" influence ; and had

      he written less he might have been worth more . His satires have smartness and sting ; he has lyrical passion , and mig ht add something to his country's literature if he would but concentrate his strength , instead of diluting it in a wash of words . His Republicanism is not of the largest or most generous kind , because it appeals only to a class , and cannot recognize the diversities of good , but is denunciatory and impatient . Yet , while the Old World wastes so visibly beneath military oppression , this rough counterpoise from the west of the Atlantic may be needed ; and so we will not quarrel with Mr . Duganne ' s peculiar form of exclusiveness , but wait patiently for the time which shall hold nil interests in an equal scale .

      Poems . By Thomas William Parsons . ( Boston : Ticknor and Fields . )—Mr . Parsons writes , through a lnrge part of his volume , in the spirit of those English versifiers of" the middle of last century , who paid more attention to the elegant turn of their compositions than to the weight of their matter . Some of his poems arc pretty and graceful ; and , although he has no great depth or originality , and is sometimes contentedly common-place , he is neither spasmodic nor obscure . German Lyrics . By Charles T . Brooks . ( Boston : Ticknor , Reed , uiul Fields . )—There is a certain affinity between the German and the American mind : therefore , these translations from the chief poets of modern Rhineland should be of the best quality . Wo must confess , however , that the English is sometimes clumsy and involved , as if the translator could not easily render the thoughrs of his authors into a new language . But the volume may serve ns a not unpleasant index to recent German poetry , oi use to those who cannot read the original tongue .

      ^42- ' The Leader. [No. 324, Saturday,

      ^ 42- ' THE LEADER . [ No . 324 , Saturday ,

      The Municipal Directory. The Municipal D...

      THE MUNICIPAL DIRECTORY . The Municipal Directory for 185 G . Kelly and Co . This Manual is intended for the use of persona interested in the working of the Metropolitan Local Management Act . That act called into existence n number of governing bodies , with considerable powers , ns well as a

      multitude of offices , filled by the parishioners of the several districts . The Messrs . Kelly have published , in a compact form , a directory containing the names and addresses of the members of the metropolitan board , and local vestries . Their resources , as publishers of the best general directory , have enabled them to produce an accurate volume , the utility of which will be obvious to the general body of parishioners .

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      —?—

      The Picture Gallery At The Crystal Palac...

      THE PICTURE GALLERY AT THE CRYSTAL PALACE . A modern gallery , divided between English and foreign artists , has been opened at tlie Crystal Palace , but is not yet complete . The visitor finds a suite of rooms one of which contains works of native art , while the rest are devoted to the ex- ' hibition of French , German , and other continental paintings . We borrow a few particulars from the Times : — " The best display is in tbe rooms allotted to continental art . Many of the best English pictures—among others one by David Roberts—have not yet arrived . There are , indeed , a " Sancho Panza" of Leslie ' s ; a capital portrait of Charles Kean as Louis XL , by Phillips ; a landscape , with a foreground of ferns , by Antony ; one of Frost ' s sea-nymphs ; some calves , by Horlar ; and some works by Pickersgill , Herring , Rolt , and others . But , on the whole , the English part of the exhibition seems to be the most backward . Of the German school , the principal work is a landscape with

      figures by old Lessing , which is , indeed , a first-rate specimen of the style . Every detail here is admirable , the light of the fire , the stonework of the ruins , the action of the figures ; but best of all are the keeping and harmony of the whole —the figures not being lost in the landscape , and the landscape not being a mere background to the figures . Jordan exhibits a wedding scene that is full of life ; Leu , a landscape of water and mountains , the former remarkable for its transparency ; Gude and Weher send some noteworthy landscapes ; while the fruit of Preye and the cabinet picture of Tidemand , in which peasants appear around a fire , are also well worth looking into . Of the Belgian school , Pieron sends two landscapes , both interesting to the English visitor , although there are very few foreign landscapes which he can look at with perfect satisfaction . In the French room , the oxen of Rosa Bonheur , the horses of

      Montpezan , which are almost always good in intention , if sometimes faulty in drawing . The horses painted by Dreux , with a . long avenue behind , is a bold attempt at perspective and foreshortening which few of our artists would even think of . If the attempt is not quite successful , the motive is at least praiseworthy . In the same spir it , Sebron contributes a view of New York in snow , the horses dashing down the street at a quick trot . Courbet sends some of his remarkable pictures ; Couturier has some excellent poultry ; and Biard has a picture of Gulliver at Brobdignag , which , as usual with him t is better in conception than in execution . We must not forget , however , among the Belgian pictures an architectural scene by Henry Leys , in which the tone is very fine ; an old woman and boy , by De Bloch ; and a couple of donkeys , by Stevens . "

      The Amateur Pantomime. The Second Amateu...

      THE AMATEUR PANTOMIME . The second amateur pantomime ever produced in this or perhaps any other city was ushered into gaslight on Monday evening , according to announcement , at the Lyceum Theatre . We gave in our last impression a general ideaot tlie subject and the treatment , and can now onl y repeat our regret that an occasion whicli should have been devoted to nothing but mirth and charity ( two very dear and loving sisters , if Exeter Hall will believe us ) , should have been degraded into a means of flouting the most sacred of human causes—the cause of free action and free thought , now doubly to be revered and championed because it is-under a thick , though we will hope a temporary , cloud . However , we will turn from this painful subject , and regard the performance in its brighter her masonic labours in the

      and more honest features . Her Majesty , fatigued by morning at the Wellington College , was not present ; but the Prince of Wales , one of his brothers , and their suite , occupied the Royal box . The representation was to the full as successful as the last ; and Mr . Albert Smith is greatly funny in the part of Tell , and in a thimble-rigging performance at a country fair in the after-part of the pantomime . It is invidious , however , to mention one actor where all were good ; and our space does not permit us to describe each of the pantomimists . Suffice it to say that the spirit and physical energy displayed were extraordinary ; that the vhole thing overflowed with action and practical fun ; that Miss Mary Oliver and Miss Rosika Wright lent their graceful aid to the non-professionals ; and that the performance was uproariously successful . The proceeds will be given , at the desire of the Queen , to tlie

      Royal Female Naval School . . A second representation will take place in about a fortnight s time , most probably at Drury-lank . Already the applications for seats are most numerous , and as the prices will be lower than on the previous occasion , a crowded house is anticipated . It is stated that the proceeds of this and any subsequent performances ( some of which , at large provincial towns , are in f ™/^? " ^? ' " be devoted to tlie foundation of a . charitable fund , to be called lhe 1 ' ieluing Fund " for the immediate relief of destitute literary men .

      Ri6tori. The Night But One After The Gro...

      RI 6 TORI . The night but one after the grotesque drolleries of tlie Amateur Pantomime , the Lyceum Theatre vrns again crowded to behold the first appearanco of the great Italian tragedian , Madame Uibtoiu . The play was tlie Jftdee ot M . Ernest Legouve , translated into the actress ' s own language , rhe excitement of expectation in tho house before the rising of tho curtain , and the intense en thusiasm awakened by the performance , were such as are rarely seen . Madamt ItiBToiu has made an unmistakable success ; but tho expression of our owu opinions on the character of her acting we reserve for a future week

      Mawabie Auikhtini On Monday Night Made H...

      Mawabie Auikhtini on Monday night made her first appearance at He Majesty ' s Theatre as I ^ onora in the Trouatore , on which occasion , sUc n with great success ; and Mademoiselle Ma . uk Taumoni has » P arklud . Jj'jJ ^ . Va audience in a spirit-stirring ballet . At tlio Koval Italian Opera , th < , / awn of Donizetti was reproduced before tho tiucen on Ihursday .

      The Flyinq Dutchman-* Piece Which Comes ...

      The Flyinq Dutchman- * piece which comes to us like aghost of other dava has started up into a new existence at the , Amcia-. u Madame Cei , si Pj [ 7 tho spectral Bkippor ; and Wright provides plenty oi food for the laufeiiiw boxes , pit , and gallery .

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), June 7, 1856, page 20, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_07061856/page/20/