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July 7, I860.] The Saturday Analyst and ...
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BlllTTANY.* T WO lady travellers have un...
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* How wo Spent the Avhimn; or, Wandering...
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NEW POEMS.* W E have three .volumes of p...
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* Vhotnymphi<- J'oniis. By C. C. Si'ithE...
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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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Memorials Of Thomas Hood.* T He Son And ...
theatre famous , and delighted the play-going public of those days . Mr William Godbee was also , I think , the contriver and inventor of Mathews' transformation dresses for his entertainments , and especially famous for manufacturing queer wigs and head-dresses for him . He was a clever man but a great oddity , as the following e er wi s . u Thbatrk RoyAL ^ adelphi , July 2 it 7 i , 1832 . " Mr . Godbee ' Bespectfull Compliments to . Mr . Hood , and he begs leave to state that he have Received a Letter this morning from Mr . Yates , who is in Glasgow , and he begs of him to go Immediately to Mr . Reynolds of Golden Square , to beg of him to
Intreat of Mr . Hood to Favour , him with a Coppy of his Pantomime of Harlequin and Mr . Jenkins , for Mr . Yates by some unfortunate circumstance have lost it , and the Dresses and Scenery are of no use to him unless he had the M . S . of The Pantomime . Therefore if Mr . Hood have it by him , and would send it Enclosed in a Parcel to the Stage Door of the Adelphi Theatre , he would be conferring an Everlasting Favour on him . Honored Sir , if you should not be so fortunate as to have it by you , Fray Oblidffe me with an answer by Post , as I dare not Send his Scenery and Dresses without the M . S . to Glasgow . I trust your Goodness of hert will Pardon me in thus troubling you . Permit me to Remain your Humble Servant , " William Godbee .
* ¦ ' P . S . Dear Sir , I shal wait with all anxiety as I can't write nor send to Mr . Yates until I hear from you . " " Whether poor Mr . Godbee ' s anxiety was set at rest , and the pantomime found , is not now to be ascertained , but it is to be hoped it
was . ¦ Of all my father ' s attempts at dramatic writing I can find no trace , save one little song intended for a musical piece , which was written to the air " My mother bids me bind my hair : "—
AIR . " My mother bids me spend my smiles , On all who come and call me fair , As crumbs are thrown upon the tiles , To all the sparrows of the air . But I ' ve a darling of my own , For wlioml hoard my little stock—TVha . t if I chirp him all alone , And leave mamma to feed the flock \" We regret we cannot extract some of the Hood characteristic doings , during his residence at Wanstead . His love foivpractical joking was extreme . It was There that he w ^ rote " Tylney Hall , " his only navel ; and a little poem called " The Epping Hunt , " which was illustrated bv Cruiksharik . ¦
. •'¦ The'failure of a firm compelled Hood , in 1835 , to leave England for-Coblentz , where he made-every" effort to retrieve his fortune by literary labour . In his passage over , however , he encountered a stornr , the effects of which are supposed to have laid the foundation of his future sufferings . The correspondence printed in these Volumes is of great value . Hood ' s letters are capital . There is one , describing to Mrs . DiIce the person and manners of her husband , which is indeed life-like . It required some courage , we think , to permit its publication ; but the fact shows both generosity and mental superiority . Nobody ever laughed at it , we may be silre , more than Mr . Dilke himself . It is painful to read of the sufferings of poor Hood in the decline of his days . How on a bed of sickness , he had to struggle to keep alive "ill ' s magazine '; and ~ how , by every effort , his health was broken ,
his recovery precluded , and his death hastened . It became necessary to apply for assistance to Sir Robert Peel , who granted his wife a pension of a hundred a year , which was afterwards continued to the children . Little know those who merely read and enjoy the wit of a humorous writer of the circumstances under which it was produced . People , in general , think that literature is spontaneous" ;—but authors frequently find it very hard work . As a rule , it is easy enough until the worker discovers that he has . to get his living by it , and then the real difficulties commence . Hood suffered , during a great part of his 'life , from misuppreeiation of his powers as a poet ; and even yet is not estimated after the rate of his excellence . These memorial volumes , however , will , we repeat , do good service , and are highly creditable to the filial talent and affection of which they are the fruits . .
July 7, I860.] The Saturday Analyst And ...
July 7 , I 860 . ] The Saturday Analyst and Leader . 635
Blllttany.* T Wo Lady Travellers Have Un...
BlllTTANY . * T WO lady travellers have undertaken to give us an account of Brittany , of which , in truth , there was scarcely anything 1 new to be told , and have printed their notes of a six weeks' tour . The value of such notes is not at all dependent on the objects seen , but always on the spectators , who need have well-lurniHlied minds to ensure their seeing properly . Madeline and Rosalind Wnllnce-Duntop have scarcely been sufficiently careful in regard to tho prior condition of effectual travelling , bub sometimes it is refreshing to lcnrn how tilings in general appear to the pure virgin mind . The Indies have , at any rate , sufficient vivacity to exclaim " how nice" and how pretty ! " when things to theih ndrnirablc but indescribable como within their range of experience . For such degree of perception let ius at lenst "" do" " themcredit . It is not" m please them .
Brittany was not altogether now to them . They had visited it on a previous-occasion ; theii : eyes were therefore not altogether uninstructed on this , nnd we think should have managed to see n little better than they have done . But they have seen , and not
without intention , if not with intensity . At Dinan they actuallyspent two or three days to renew their acquaintance withthe shops and places they had formerly visited . -We have , accordingly , a woodcut of two Dinan girls , and another of the Font at Tinteniac , which we must accept in place of further description ; the ladies possibly think that their sketches will serve the purpose better . We learn from their researches , that so-late as the eleventh century , the Breton bishops- refused to take the vows' of celibacy , and that the inhabitants of Rennes , though intolerant of the Huguenots , refused to take part in the massacre of St . Bartholomew . The
country around Rennes is rich , but flat;—but everythingin the town , looks fresh and bright , and the Musee contains three hundred valuable paintings , by Michael Angelo , Titian , Guido , Rubens , Claude Lorraine , and other great masters . From Rennes our tourists proceeded to Vitre , where we have a sketch of Madame de Seviirne ' s chateau , and which place they were fortunately enabled to inspect . The walls were hung with portraits of the family , and sustained one of the authoress herself , " representing a face with full sleepy eyelids and lonjr-shaped dark " eyes . " On another wall was her granddaughter , en bergere , a lovely piquant face .
Here at least is actual observation , though perhaps not made the most of . A saying , too , which the ladies record of a guide is not without a certain value . It has reference to the differences in creeds . ' " For himself , he was not qxiite sure , but rather inclined to give the preference to Protestantism ; and then , in a burst of confidence , he announced , ' Protestantism is a religion of charity , but Romanism is a religion of money . ' " A shrewd thinker , that guide . There , are some good remarks in a general way on the noted town of Nantes , famous for its Protestant ism—where , also , there is a theatre and other places of amusement proper to ah important city . While waiting for the diligence , ouv party took a sketch of the ruins of a church at Dunnes . Let us say , once for all , these
sketches , scattered 'through the book , are pleasant things , and of themselves confer a degree of worth on it . The sketchers came at last to Ploermel , and put up at the Lion d'Or . It'was close to the church relative to which the ladies show more powers of description than in any other pprt of ± he book . " It is , " say they , ' very rich in detail , and peculiar in form . The gingoyles are very eccentric , —snaky dragons , with ducks' feet , howling monks , and scaly monsters of all kinds . " .. But ' it is at the north door you stand entranced ; for here the architect has c 6 iiceivtr ; ated his genius , and the whoie gable end is covered with a profusion" of detail that is perfectly bewildering . This is one of those rare , fronts of varied mosaic , covered with . imagery wilder a » d quainter than ever filled ~ sl ' Midsummer- Niifht ' s . Dream , ' of which lluskin speaks .
pjvery stone has its separate story , and you can-spend hours ' ' in tracing out their grotesque and . ¦ 'fanciful meanings . Here is a hideous ., distorted monkey playing- on , a . 'bagpipe ' , which some one -has . picked ' out with pink chalk , as being , in his opinion , the stone of the building 1 '; then a graceful riierinaid dances jauntily over a prostrate centaur , who is lying doubled-back with astonishment , as he well may be ; two tvvin children are two or three -times . , repeated . Inside one window I counted thirty figures . All round the gable edg-e are carved , in bold relief against the sky , fabulous snakes with their tails in their mouths . *' We cannot pursue the ladies in their tour . What we have quoted will ' recommend' the book , perhaps . The colouring is certainly faint ; but the writers go throughtlieir ' pleasant adventures \ vith vivacitvand we can be cheerful in their company . "The
, sun-burnt , toil-worn , and quaintly-costumed sons and daughters of Uretagne " are not very strongly characterised , nor are their . surroundings very picturesquely described ; but there is a sense of motion , of prevailing good sense , and amiable companionship which entitle the tourists to respect .
* How Wo Spent The Avhimn; Or, Wandering...
* How wo Spent the Avhimn ; or , Wandering in Jfrittauy . By the Auth « mj 88 eB of " OJho Timely Kotrcjit . " Kiohard Beiitley .
New Poems.* W E Have Three .Volumes Of P...
NEW POEMS . * W E have three . volumes of pooim on our table , which indicate promiise on the part of their authors . The first is of a realistic character , sind professes to " photograph" actual oveiits mid persona ; ami , indeed , does this with coiiaiderable success . The titles of some of tho pieces sufficiently announce their nubjecls ;—• such ns " Found Dead , " " Tho Outcast , " " A Christinas Sketch , " " In Menmrinui , " " Little Children , " " Hope , " "The ' Sabbath Peal , " " Fickleness , " " Life ' s Dreams , " and '" Conscience . " There is much of the spirit and piety of Cowper , uml the benevolence of Hood in these verses ; and frequently some invcutiou displayed , and a power of graphic description above the average . Truly , there are some metrical technicalities which the writer has not yut uuKstt-red .
He is , us yet , a better poet than a versifier;—but facility will grow ou practice . The render of these pages will long remember the orphan boy , who slept beneath * ' tho arches" one nitf ht , —but waked not ' buueath them , but before " thu gates of pearl on golden hinges hung ' , " thai opened on the New Jerusalem ;—tho betrayed girl , with her dying child crying for food , upon tho door-step ;~ -tho suicide , that lias i »(> rufiige but " in t > io water depths;—the soldier ' s wile perishing iii theThiiow p ^ tho ^ Ho 13 ier liiinstjlfUyirig bFtliti biilttlofidd , and at thu « ame ni <» nient meeting hi . s faithful purl nor nnd her
* Vhotnymphi<- J'Oniis. By C. C. Si'ithe...
* Vhotnymphi < - J ' oniis . By C . C . Si'ithEtt , ' C . C . Snillcr . SIm-IIvi / ; TIu < Death of & V . Poli / earp , mid other J ' oems . Tiy JonN Ahvnnv J ^ ANdFOiU ) . Smith , Elder , k Co . Tim lhu ,,, ! i : ,, r , Mr . Tiiwbnir * A > tve » tnn-a in ' *« ¦<> ' # ir " ^\ £ < So , < i ,,-vomh > jfowauet , , hi Jikj / mc . By GiconaK Hmw y Iatam . Mair & Sou .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), July 7, 1860, page 11, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_07071860/page/11/
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