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    930 ' THE LEA PER, [No, 392, September 2...

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    LATTER-DAY POETRY. Miching Mallecho, and...

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    INDIAN PAMPHLETS. The best days of the p...

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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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    930 ' The Lea Per, [No, 392, September 2...

    930 ' THE LEA PER , [ No , 392 , September 26 , 1857 .

    Latter-Day Poetry. Miching Mallecho, And...

    LATTER-DAY POETRY . Miching Mallecho , and , Other Poems . By Paul Richardson . ( Burton-upon-Trent : Whitehurst . London : J . and C Mozley ) . —This is a volume by a imter who has already put forth some verses which ; are here reprinted , and of which we spoke in a former marshalling of Latter-day ^ Poets ( Leader , April 19 , 1856 ) . The first poem in the present book is , we believe , original ; but-we can do little else than repeat our previous opinion of the author ' general practice . Again we have to regret that a writer of such evident honesty and such manifestly good intentions should indulge in vulgar Abuse and virulent denunciation of every "body and everything he does not happen to agree with . He commences his present volume with some remarks on the critics of his former publication , the upshot of which is that they are . all knaves and fools . Then he passes forth into the great world of humanity . Everybody there too is a knave 3 or a fool , or both , with the exception of

    Mazzini—and himself . Every lord is a rascal and a numskull . Every priest is ditto . Every minister and every member of Parliament is a perfect 4 sink of iniquity . Every man who goes to church is fit only to be kicked out of ihe world ; just as , in the opinion of fanatics on the other side , every man -who does not go to church should be devoted to a similar fate . Every young -l & dy who dances a polka at a ball is in heart the same as the poor girl who leers at us from under the street lamps towards the small hours of the jnorning . In short , everybody who does not act as Mr . Paul Richardson acts , and thinks as Mr . Paul Richardson tlainks , is an abandoned scoundrel ¦ or a born idiot . All this is ^ liere petulant egotism , strutting in the mask . and domino of heroic virtue ; and we the more regret to see it because Mr . Hichardson has real faculty , and because tliere is so much to be done in the way of reforming and bettering the world that it is painful to find Intel-Jectual power thrown away in the ravings of what is truly nothing more than . another form of bigotry , as great as any which it attacks . If this country be

    . so thoroughly corrupt as Mr . Richardson would have us believe—If we - simply get worse and worse with every age—if we have fallen helplessly . away from some ideal time of heroism and freedom , when ( as Mr . llichard-. son maintains , but without fixing the date } England was always fighting the battles of liberty all over the earth , and making kings and emperors bow before her—it is clear that the case is hopeless . Such writings , therefore , . supposing them to have aiiy effect at all , simply plunge us into despair and inaction . There is much truth in many of Mr . Richardson ' s strictures , and he has such a free , hearty admiration of what is noble and generous in the -abstract , that we are sure he is really desirous of doing service to the world ; but we put it to him as a man of sense whether he would not effect that purpose niuch better by acknowledging the good . that is in society , as well . as denouncing the bad , and by tempering his denunciations with a little -charity for individuals , who , whatever their mistakes , may not he either absolute scoundrels or hopeless blockheads . We are almost tempted to . apply to Mr . Richardson some lines of his own , and to say that he is

    Without the love that seasons life with joy , Or -wit to draw its better flavour out . Because the rind is bitter to the taste , He'll suck an orange witl a sour , wry face , And find no sweetness in it . This is a singular strain in which to review a volume of poems ; but Mr . -Richardson seems to consider that poetry is little else than rhymed politics , . and expresses great scorn of those who think otherwise . Of his poetry itself we may confidently say , that it indicates unquestionable faculty . Amid much wildness , incoherence , and ribaldry , sometimes bombastical and occasionally commonplace , we find a true feeling for beauty and grandeur ; passages exhibiting thought and originality ; bold strokes of wit . and satire , alternating with tender gleams of description ; rough humour and savage sarcasm . Very admirable are his mock Methodist prayer and . sermon ; very spirited some of his lyrics- And so we will part company ¦ with him in friendly mood , and hope to licar him singing in a pleasanter . strain at some future day .

    The Fairy Family ; a Scries of Ballads and Metrical Tales illustrating the Fairy Mythology of Uurope ( Longman and Co . ) . —That beautiful system of spiritual life which succeeded to the denii-gods and nymphs of antiquity , and which is summed up in the Anglo-French word ' faery , ' has formed the subject of dramas , ballads , and narrative poems out of number , from the . gorgeousMidsummer Night ' s Dream of iShakspeare down to the humble 'Composition of the magazine verse-writer . HeTe , however , is a gentleman who puts forth a whole volume of fairy poetry , dividing his romances -systematically among the Fairies of the Woods and Groves , the Fairies of the Fields and Meadows , the Fairies of the Hills and Caves , the Fairies of the Hearths and Homesteads , rend the Fairies of the Seas and Rivers . Each of these sections he prefaces with a short prose account of the particular < iass of elves alluded to ; so that the book is a mirror of the whole fairy world . The idea is a pleasant one , and it is pleasantly carried out , though the author strikes a somewhat conventional key noto in his Preface . He eays that he " has been led to the composition of this work chiefly by the while

    iact that , Fairy Lore possesses a charm and an attraction above all . others for young people , and while its value and importance as a means of moral instruction ivre fully recognized , much of our Fairy Literature , so engerly longed for and bo greedily devoured , is but moral poison—weakened by unmeaning extravagances , polluted by indelicate allusions , and disfigured by purposeless cruelties and crimes . The Fairy Mythology has always apjpeared to him to present peculiar advantages as a -medium for virtuous teacliin < j" What fairy tales the writer can luive been in the habit of roading we know not . It is quite new to us to loarn that so large a part of our . Fairy Literature is moral poison ; and w « confess wo cannot avoid an uneasy ieeling when we see a poet objecting to extravagance in a fairy talo ( as if that were not its very life ) , » nd sitting down—wo had almost saad with malice prepense—to turn the bright and buoyant sports of fancy into * mediums for virtuous teaching . ' 1 Sav « us from the curse of ' good and bad boy books' invading the pleasant roalm of Faery 1 But 'further on we found the author asserting that ho has-taken caro " that the moral shall be worked out in the developmcn t of tho tale—not lacked to the end of it , to

    stand in pointed but unamiable antithesis to all that has gone before . " This was reassuring ; stilLmore so to find that the tales are very agreeably told in flowing and graceful verse , with just ns much poetry in the treatment as the youthful readers to whom tho book is mainly addressed would comprehend and enjoy . Some of the stories have been told in verse before for instance , the tale of John Wilde , the avaricious farmer of itiigen , we " recollect to have seen in the form of a ballad ; but it is an excellent iiction and will bear twice telling . The volume is handsomely printed ; and we can recommend it to old and young ( provided the old still retain some yonthfulness of heart ) as a pleasant resource for a leisure hour . The Pleasures of Home , a Poem in Five Cantos , by the Rev . James Thom C bellMA ( Saunders and Otley ) has uuimre / oaunucis \

    as amp , .. , a very appronrhte -L viiiiipucu , jm-. a . ^ uuu . jLiuyj , mis u very appropriate motto front Christopher North : — " Commonplace and all-time truths are the staple of all true poetry . " A very few pages of Mr . Campbell ' s verse ¦ will show that he has carried this precept into practice—jis far , that is to say , as commonplace is concerned . And vet there is somethin g original about him , too . He dedicates his book : " To Jane and Julia * the two companions with whom . I have passed my life , and to whom I owe its many mercies and blessings . " And he finds it necessary to explain his own obscurities in a foot-note . Thus we read in the text— " And is she gone ? " to which is appended this prose comment . at the bottom of the page : — - The allusion here is to Julia , the younger of the two sisters , who d ? ed

    suddenly , " & c . It is rather startling to find Mr . Campbell vindicating Nelson ' s Lady Hamilton from the revilings of the over-good ; but this piece of liberality is entirely neutralized in the next page by a pi-odigions howl of bigotry . Frenchmen , yells Mr . Campbell , are " a polluted race accursed of God . " But we , it seems , are not much better , because we are in alliance with France instead of fighting her , and because we impiously desire to be at peace with all men , and to that end make railways , and electric telegraphs , und such-lilce profanities . Indeed , we are ' a race of fools , ' and George III . was the greatest of kings ! Towards the conclusion of his book , Mr . Campbell froths up into a frenzy about tlie advance of Romanism , which he conceives is fast dragging us into the bottomless pit ; and here we think it lrisrh time to leave him .

    Gtcendohne and Win / red ( John Moxon ) is an anonymous poem , the author of which informs us that he ( or she ) has ' bowed in wild idolatry' before the * altars * of ' poesy . ' He bids his book ' go forth and brave the critic ' s sneer ; ' then ( for a novelty ) likens it to a bark , and hopes that a ' pilot hand' may guide it to some harbour where it may c the malice of the world defeat . ' The reader , no doubt , knows what ' to expect from this sweltering egotism . If he does not , we may inform him . that . he will find nothing in Gwendoline and Whip reel but feeble verse , pallid sentimentality , aud bad grammar . As thus : — My iale is done , my song is siing , And from my hand the bright harp flung , With broken strings , for mauy a day In aching solitude to Ian .

    A Summer Evening ^ Reverie , and-Other Poems , hy William Tidd Matson ( Bulman ) , have received the kind encouragement of several eminent men , and exhibit amiability and sweetness . Mr . Matson is full of generous sympathy with the oppressed nationalities of Europe , and advocates their enfranchisement with a warmth which has nothing of virulence in it . The best poem in his book is the first , which contains some striking and even fine passages . Mr . . Heraud has published a new and revised edition of his Judgment of the Flood ( Rogue ) . The poem has obtained many admirers ; but we regret we cannot add ourselves to the list .

    Tewdale , and Lyrical Notes , by S . H . Bradbury ( Houlston and Wright ) . — This is a new volume of poems by a versifier who- has obtained some little celebrity under the strange nickname of ' Quullon . ' It exhibits all the bad features of his former writings , confirmed and exaggerated . SentinienLality , extravagant and inept metaphors , and a tendency to harp upon certain siiowy words , again meet U 3 in every page . He writes , so much of jewels and gold that he must be the son of a lapidary by the daughter of a goldsmith ; and helias an unctuous , lax-mouthed way of talking about women which is positively nasty . He speaks of one young lady who lias lips of ' luscious ripeness ; ' and of another we are told that ' her merry lips with lushest looks were rife '—a line suggestive of nothing but the night siloon . A few pretty passages may be found here and there ; but they will not compensate the reader for the load of glittering rubbish out of which he has to pick them .

    Indian Pamphlets. The Best Days Of The P...

    INDIAN PAMPHLETS . The best days of the pamphleteer are past . The journalist has superseded him . The sale of not one pamphlet out of a hundred pays the cost of publication . Formerly , ' Justitia' or'An Englishman , 'by issuing twenty-four pages of invective , might kindle an agitation ; but in our days be appeals only to a quiet class of readers , or , still oftcner , to writers who make use of his facts and illustrations , and leave his modest work to immortal obscurity . Mr . Gladstone , a few years ago , made a hit with a pamphlet on the Neapolitan prisons ; a little earlier Lord Brougham had made a failure on the JiYench . Republic . Nevertheless , dwindled though thev be to comparative

    insignificance , the pamphleteers are generally an important , self-denying , patriotic race . Frequently , of course , they have a personal object in view . Medicus writes on sanitary reform , and advertises a plan of his own ; a . British Officer' discourses on army purchase , and we discover , before , long , that he has been maltreated nttlie Horse Guards ; » Chancery Lane' proposes an association upon public grounds , and we find that he would bo happy to net as Us paid solicitor ; but , in nine cases out of ten , your pamphleteer is a . man who , having views ofhis own , no organ through which to disseminate them , and no chance of being allowed suflicient spaco by tlie ' JMmcs or Daily „ t * i' pnnta them upon fair paper in clour tvpo . -procures the co-operation i JVlr

    « . Olinpmun , Mr , ltidgway , or Mr . Eflingham Wilson , sends copies to the press , and Listens impatiently for an echo . Iho Indian crisis has engendered a lurgo variety of pamphlets , oacb

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Sept. 26, 1857, page 18, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_26091857/page/18/