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lllg THE READER, [Satpboay,
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Kitttatntt
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Critics are not the legislators, but the...
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Literature and everything else, must thi...
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A new illustrated Faust is in course of ...
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TJierc has been much discussion, and Hom...
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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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.
Lllg The Reader, [Satpboay,
lllg THE READER , [ Satpboay ,
Kitttatntt
Kitttatntt
Critics Are Not The Legislators, But The...
Critics are not the legislators , but the judges and police of literature . They do not in & kelaws—they interpret and try to enforcethem . —Edinburgh Jtevff *! .
Literature And Everything Else, Must Thi...
Literature and everything else , must this week retire into the shade , away frqm the noisy turmoil attendant on the funeral of the great Duke ; or , if it wish tp gain an ear , it must speak of that great Duke . This it doe § iji many accents , mostly foolish . Articles and biographies , pamphlets and poems , crowd upon the inattentive public . Death always breeds corruption \ From out the Wellingtonian literature , one poem stands eminent , because signed by a great name—Alfred Tennyson $ but not even that great name , nor the love we bear it , can prevent our saying of this Ode Qn the Death qf the Duke of Wellington , what an intrinsically poor performance it is . So little thought seems to have been bestowed on it , thaf even the title is not appropriate—the ode is not on the death , but on the burial of the Duke ; which it neither describes nor calls up before the reflective eye , suggesting grand and mournful images . The subsfcance pf the ode is made up of common-place reflections ; the fprm wants the redeeming splendour of imagery befitting a great event . Wherefore did Alfred write this ode ? Because he is Poet Laureate ? Surely not because the ourrpoQ within goaded him with that poetic pain which insists on utterance ? The best portions of tfye ode we will give . After a call upon England to " bury the great Duke with an empire ' s lamentation , " he sings : — - * 'Lead out the pageant : sad and slow , As fits an universal woe , * Let the long long procession go , And let the sorrowing crowd about it grow , And let the mournful martial music blow ; 4 The last great Englishman is low . " Mourn , for to us he seems the last : Our sorrow draws but on the golden Past . O friends , our chief state-oracle is mute : Mourn for the man of long-enduring blood , The statesman-warrior , moderate , resolute , Whole in himself , a common good . Mourn for the man of largest influence , Yet freest from ambitious crime , Our greatest yet with least pretence , Great in council and great in war , Foremost captain of his time , Rich in saving common-sense , And , as the greatest only are , In his simplicity sublime . O good gray head which all men knew , O voice from which their omens all men drew , O iron nerve to true occasion true , O fall ' n at length that tower of strength Which stood four-square to all the winds that blew ! Such was he whom we deplore . The long self-sacrifice of life is o ' er : The great World-victor ' s victor will "be seen no more . We are then told to bury him in St . Paul ' s to salvos of cannon , voices ¦ o well known to him , — " His Captain ' s cur lias heard them booin , Bellowing victory , bellowing doom •" and the strophe closes with these good lines : — " In praise and in dispraise the same , A man of woll-atteinper'd frame . O civic muse , to such a name , To such a name for ages long , To such a name Preserve a broad approach off awe , And ever-ringing avenues of song . " Nelson , startled by this solemn noise , asks whom they are bringing to lie beside him , ( a somewhat feeble invention this !) and is told , in many indifferent lines , that it is his rival , " as great by land as thou by sea , " and is , moreover , told that this great landsman is " England's greatest on . " We suppose Pinduric statements are beyond the reach of criticism , otherwise we might ask what is sincerely meant by calling Wklmnoton England ' s greatest son ? liut let criticism withdraw awhile , and leave 'the poet to chant as be pleases : '' A people ' " voico ! we are a people yd ,. Tho' all men else their nobjer dreams forgot Confused by brainless mobs imd lawless Powers , Wo have a voice , with which to pay tho debt Of most unbounded reverence and regret To tho . se great men who fought , mid kept it ourt ) . O Statesmen , guard iih , guard the oye , the houI Of Kurope , keep our noble Kngluiul wjiolo , And huvo tho out ) true weed of freedom howii Uotwijct a people and their ancient throne , Thut sober freedom out of which there Hpring . s N K W S i ^ APD j & Jpyal passion for our temperate kingn ; ' ^ \** nrr [ , / J ' yjFOTy paving thiit , y <> huvo mankind -X : \^ J ! ^?/\& lU < riiibh ' c wrong be crumbled into dual ,, ' ' ' ^¦/ -, » t- ' - 'S ^ 'X ^ $ W < Uo march of humun « " » " ! , __>[ , '}' yV ) J' V ^[ fl ^ rrL \ v ( lH bp anno and crowns ho jiiat ; C' ' ' a ''¦" :: H ^ Jbik no nioro in slothful ovurtruuf . - - .. ¦ J ^ '¦ ' " y 4 \ i U V ' A 1
Perchance our greatness will increase ; Perchance a darkening future yields Some reverse from woree to worse , The blood of men in quiet fields , And sprinkle ^ on the sheaves of peace . And O remember him who led your hosts ; Respect his sacred warning ; guard your coasts : . Jlis voice is silent in your council-hall For ever ; and whatever tempests lower For ever silent ; even if they broke In thunder , silent—yet remember all He gpoUe among you , and the Man who spoke ; Who never sold the truth to serve the hour . Nor palter'd with . Eternal God for power . His eighty winters freeze with one rebuke All great self-seekers trampling on the right . Truth-teller was our England's Alfred named , Truth-lover was our English Duke $ Whatever record leap to light He never shall be shamed . " lo the leader in these glorious wars JSTow to glorious burial slowly borne , FollowM by the brave of other lands , He , on whom from both her open hands Lavish Honour shower'd all her stars , And affluent Fortune emptied all her horn . Yea , let all good things await Him who cares not to be great , But as he saves or serves the state-Not once or twice in our rough islaxd-story The path of duty was the way to glory . He that walks it , only thirsting For the right , and learns to deaden Love of self before his journey closes , JSe shall find the stubborn thistle bursting Into glossy purples , which outreddjen All voluptuous garden-roses . Not once or twice in our fair island-story , The path of duty was the way to glory . He , that ever following her commands , On with toil of heart and knees and hands , Thro' the long gorge to the far light has won His path upward , and prevail'd , Shall find the toppling crags of Duty scal'd Are close upon the shining table-lands To which our God Himself is moon and sun . He has not fail'd : he hath prevail'd : So let the men whose hearths he saved from shame Thro' many and many an age proclaim At civic revel and pomp and game , And when the long-illumined cities flame , Their ever-loyal iron leader ' s fame , With honour , honour , honour , honour to him , Eternal honour to his name . " Tennyson is said to compose with great slowness ; and as this Ode must have been written hastily , it may have that extenuation , although in truth the primary conception is as insignificant as the execution . It is often asked , and asked with natural surprise , why the Clergy , who have Revealed Truth snug in their own possession , should in general be so averse from discussion , so intolerant of antagonistic publications , while Philosophers , with no surer guides than Logic and Common Sense , never decline controversy . We read orthodox publications , — finding them supremely harmless ; but the orthodox will not , if they can help it , suffer our works to have readers , —finding them " dangerous ! " In Nottingham , a town of about 100 , 000 inhabitants , no copy of the Westminster Review was to be had at any public library , two or three weeks ago ; and in more than one public subscription library of our provincial towns the Review lma been excluded , by the active clergy , " alarmed" at its contents . At Warwick , a clergyman wrote on the back of the Review , " The article on the Restoration of Belief is full of awful blasphemy , " and forthwith exerted himself to rid the library of a work containing such articles . Now this sa ^ d article ia generally understood to be the production of a Christian minister as remarkable for the fervent piety aa for the glowing eloquence and amazing subtlety of Jus writing , but , being an Unitarian , he of course " blasphemes / ' njid his writing must be repudiated with saintly horror
A New Illustrated Faust Is In Course Of ...
A new illustrated Faust is in course of publication in Gcrmuny . J * designs arc by Kngelukht Skimkhtz ; two parts have appeared . I' ™ " a casual inspection , we are not disposed to esteem the designs a * works o art . Uut the book will be a superb , though costly , drawing-room tab ornament . . ^ There is little else of novelty on the continent . Among the few boo ^ worth a passing line , are the seventh volume of Umautink ' h Ihstmre ( ^ la Restauraticm , which brings the narrative down to the uea » Louis XVIIL and the usccntuon of Chakijch X . to the throne ; WM LV a volume by Loijih Heyuaud , containing two amusing nov , Brontin and Jm ; Coq du Clocher .
Tjierc Has Been Much Discussion, And Hom...
TJierc has been much discussion , and Home ridicule , excited by » e I ^ motion of D'IflitAicM to the Chancellorship of the Exchequer ; . * " ^ this week give . u hia raisoy , d & re , a » the philosopher ? say , the JJW *
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Nov. 20, 1852, page 16, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_20111852/page/16/
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