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Leader (1850-1860), 1st February 1851, Edition Town of 2, Page 110

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      fellow-creatures gradually returns , and he resolves to direct : his energies towards the amelioration of society , for . which he sees no hope while its present structure remains . He , therefore , becomes in theory a Communist , or something very like one ; and in a farewell interview with Egeria , upon the top of a mountain ( the substance of which he relates to his friend Montague ) , he beholds " a vision

      of the Past , " with all its cruelties and ignoranceone of the present time , showing the advance which the world has made , and the young dawnlight of new principles now purpling in the orient of our horizon—and , lastly , one of the world as it will be , wherein all the aspirations of the most generous thinkers are embodied . We subjoin the two latter visions , as a good specimen of Mr . Mackay ' s poetical power and political belief : — " I saw the actual world Spreading beneath me all its climes and lands . 'Xwas robed in purer splendour . Time had wrought Beneficent changes in the heaita of men ; But a great problem which the ages past Had never posed , was clamorous to be solved;—How mighty populations were to live In narrow area , by the ancient rule Of competition—each man against each ? And whether union , often tried by men For purpose of destruction , war , and wrong , Might not , if tried for purposes of peace , Construction , industry , and mutual aid , Lead the sad nations of a world effete From darkness into light—from sea to land ? - — The mighty truths were gushing- into flower ; Old evils lived , but deadly war had sprung Betwixt the embattled hosts of Eight and Wrong , And Victory wa 8 sitting in the clouds Uncertain of the issue . When this passed , A brighter vision broke upon my soul—The promised reign of righteousness had come—The lion and the lamb lay down in peace , The nations turned their swords to pruning-hooks And studied war no more . The Law of Love Made other law a useless formula . Labour was pleasure , Duty was delight , God was sole king , and every human heart Gave Him allegiance . I beheld no more : And , turning to Egeria , kissed the hem Of her white garments . ' Mortal man , ' she said , ' Too long bewildered in the mazes dim Of false philosophies , —thy path grows clear ! Descend again into the world of life And take new guidance . Let philosophy Attune as erst thy solitary hours To hn . imonies , unheard by worldly ears ; But let true Piety thy guardian be , The guide and the companion of thy days . '" Mr . Mackay ' poetry is not of a kind which requires deep or subtle criticism , because it is not in itself deep or subtle . It is rather the reflex of a temperament poetically inclined , than the fervid utterance of an original soul , burdened with the mystery of its sensations . It is preeminently noncreative : but , like a lake among the towering hills , it answers the heavens quietly and purely . A loving and observant eye for Nature—an honest and manly enthusiasm in the cause of truth and right—and a cheerful faith in the progress of the

      world ( excepting when he declares that evil is in itself a good thing ) , —such are the characteristics that throw honour upon Mr . Mackay ' s poetry , and are the sources of pleasure to his many readers . We must , however , be permitted to advise him to meditate deeply over every word which he commits to paper , and not to mistake any set of syllables which happens to fall easily into rhyme and rhythm for the mounting fires of poetry . Especially let him avoid such expressions as " rapturous minstrelsy , " and " feathered people of the boughs " ( seepage 11 ) , &c . They have been linked with insincerity and pretence , and carry with them an atmosphere of untruth .

      The minor poems accompanying Eyaria arc already , we believe , well known to the public . Reflecting with a gencroiiK sympathy tho longings , enjoyments , and sorrows of the manses , in verse which all can understand , they must needs be favourites far and wide .

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      BOOKS ON OUH TA 11 LK . Historic Certainties respecting the . Early History of Jlmericii , developed in a Critical IC-ru initiation of the Hook of the- Chtonicles of the hand of Ecnarf . liy tho Reverend AntrimcIiiih Nowlight . J . W . Piukor . This brochure is a parody on the now historic criticism of the ( iobpcla , which in the hunuu of ( Strauss ami l ) i > Wctte him revolutionized theology . lt » intention , like that of it » prototype by Archbitmop Whutely , Historic Doubts respecting Napoleon Bonaparte , , in to dinprove , by u pretended reductio ad absurdum , tho vmIiiu of a method which ruins tho credibility of the tionpelH ; hut although nhullow people niny chip lmndn over such a triumph of ridicule , nil uerioua thinkers will detect the BoplnHin . The historic tcutiinony in favour of tho Gotipelfi can stand no sott of compuriaon with thut of the existence

      of Napoleon or the French Revolution , and only in jest could the parody be allowed . Unfortunately ridentem dicere falsum quid vetat ?— " who . objects to a lie wrapped up in laughter ?"—and so the parody is made to bear a grave conclusion . , The . Reverend Aristarchus Newlight has humour , and some of his etymologies are very ingenious—notably his explanation of Napoleon —( or Noel-opan as he calls him)—meaning Godless Revolution . No answers to the Greek negative w ; ( invjjwio ? , &c ) , Latin , ne or non , the English no , the German nein . El , as every one knows , is the name of God : Noel , therefore , is the same as aOtoq , godless . Opan actually occurs as the

      name of a wheel in Ezekiel , in Exod . xiv . 25 , and many other places . In its contracted form it denotes a period or revolution of time . " It is impossible , " says Dr . Newlight , " to resist these little obvious , but on that account more striking evidences of the antiquity of the document . The framers of the story of Napoleon were , I fancy , aware of the true etymology of Noel-opan . Hence they represen t a great literary bugbear ( L ord Byron ) as signing his name Noel Byron , just as Shelley is said to have written Stdeoq after his name in the album at Chamouni . " As a learned and laborious joke we can commend this brochure , with a caveat , however , against its

      intention . Tomlms ' s Help to Self-Educators . Interpreting Subjects of History , Art , Politics , Literature . First Quarterly Fart . Office , 19 , Southampton-street . This is a penny periodical with that rare thing—a definite scheme , and a good one . Addressed to those who are educating themselves , it professes to help them in their labours by taking up large subjects , and expounding them by means of extracts from authoritative writers , and by comments . In Political Economy , for example , an analysis is given of Adam Smith and John

      Mill—interspersed with extracts . In History , a view of Britain under the Romans , with extracts from Dr . Giles . In Politics , a review of the English Constitution , historical and expository . In Art , Schilling ' s celebrated Oration is the text-book . The extracts being selected to serve a distinct purpose , become doubly valuable . The only suggestion we should make respecting future numbers is the desirableness of not falling too much into extracts ; the professed object of the periodical being to educate rather than to inform , principles should be dwelt upon , and mere details of information used only as supplementary .

      A Christmas Offering . Original Poems by Bichard Friend . Dover : J . Johnson . This tiny volume is the production of a youth , who , like many thousands before him , has rushed into print prematurely . It is impossible to ^ ecide from the writings of a boy what he will do as a man ; very often , in such cases , the badness of the productions are promises for the future , because they show that he is thinking and writing for himself , and not mimicking the smooth mediocrity of others .

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      Letters on the Laws of Man ' s Nature and Development . By Henry George Atkinson and Harriet Martiueau . John Chapman . The Cotton and Commerce of India Considered in Halation to the Interests of Great Britain ; with Remarks on Railway Communication in the Bombay Presidency . By John Chapman . John Chapman . The Antediluvian History , and Narrative of the Flood ; as set forth in the Early Portions of the Book of Genesis . Critically examined and explained hy the llevertnd E . D . Kendell . J . 8 . Hodson .

      I he Signification of Colours in all Ages , including an Explanation of the Mythological and other Remains of Antiquity From the French of M . Portal , with extra notes , introduction , & ( J . liy Klilm Rich . W . Newherry . The IVar of the Churches ; or , the Real Nature of the Quarrel between the Church of Rome and the Church of England , with very numerous Historical Reflections and Illustrations on the State of Christianity in England for the last Thousand Years , showing the Effect a Revival of the . Penal Code would have upon the Social Condition of the Empire , and its numerous lteliifious . Civil , and Political Interests . Hy Juniua Civilis . James Gilbert . The Duty of England ; A Protestant Layman ' s Reply to Cardinal fViseman's " Jlppeal . " John Chapman . The Girlhood of . Shakenpeare's Heroines . Tale 3 . ( Helena ; the . Physician's Orphan . ) By Mary Cowden Clarke . W . II . Smith and Son . The North British Review . No . 28 . Hamilton , AduuiH , and Co . The Artisan . . No . 2 . Vol . 9 . Matthew Soul .

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      THE CADI'S DAUGHTER . On Monday a new operetta in one act , under the above title , was produced at Drury Lane . The subject is slight enough . Abdallah ( Mr . llafter ) is a young merchant : Salek , his opposite neighbour , a barber . Both pride themselves on the superiority of their sex , and affix placards declaratory of their opinion over the doors of their respective shops . The Cudi ' s Daughter ( Miss Eliza Nelson ) , a coquettish young Turkish lady , and Vistua , her attendant ( Miss F . Morant ) , resolving to cure the presump tion of the youths , commence an attack on their hearts ,

      mid having induced them to ask their hands in marriage of the Cadi , assume the disguise of decrepid ugly old women . The Cadi having demanded the fulfilment of their contract , the ladies resume their proper whape , and promiHO to befriend the youths , and save them from such a hateful alliance , provided they reverse the offensive ' placards . This is performed , and the lovers are made happy by receiving the objects of their lovea . Tho music , by Mr . Nelson , consists of ballads , one duct , and a chorus , quite in the popular vein . The ballads sung by Miss

      Nelson , with groat piquancy and expression , proved thoroughly successful . The encores were vociferous , though not submitted to without opposition . Mia » Nelson wun loudly called for at tho fall of the curtain . This piece in , however , unworthy of the boards of Drury-lnne Theatre . At a moment when there is an outcry for a national opera , and when we appeared to have emancipated ourselves from mere ballad opera , it surely i » not for Drury Lano to hurl us back upon the wor « t and least artistic school of composition . Tho comproinitie mudu by Jialfe and Burnett is really such its to advance tho taste for , and

      encreaso the chances of English lyric composition , but such productions as tho (' adi ' it Daug hter only servo to impede its progress , and even to bring tho bare proposal for tho establishment of a national lyric drama into contempt .

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      110 © ft * &eahtt + [ Saturday ,

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      THE PRISONERS OF WAR . You read , lust week , how I proposed to manure my leisure with excellent guimo in the guise of the " ChriHtiun Fathers ! " No plan could be better . It was clear that I had a long period before me which would be bun-en of official occupation ; the theatres had comfortably settled down into the uniformity of "' every evening , " and my post became a sinecure . To u mini of aspiring mind idleness is death . Ilcpot ? c ? " There will be repose enough in the tomb , " as the philosopher Nicole judiciously remarked . How , then , wiih I to imitate the industrious insoct , and " improve the shining hour , " when the words " every evening , " consigned mo to privuey and insignificance ? () by iouttly by some edifying study . The vellum-bound folios , labelled Chrysostomi Opera , allured me . The subjects treated of by the goldenmouthed Hugo are not , perhaps , of the gayeat , nor docs hiw style sparkle with _ pleasantries ; but if he bo open to irreverent criticism in respect of qutility , hi « pretensions to quantity are impoHiug enough — there are Homo fourteen hundred di / furont works owning him as

      author ; so that a man s leisure , be it never so indefinite , may find ample food there—if he happen to like it , and if his thirst for knowledge of Greek writers be as unslakeable as mine . I attacked the fourteen hundred works with the vigour of a boylet loose in a confectioner ' s ! Deep was I in . that substantial treatise On the Priesthood ( vept UpuavVvi $ \ —which , as the publishers say , belongs to the books " suitable to the present crisis "—and was on the eve of making glorious mems from it , when out fla mes the bill of the Princess ' s with the announce ment of

      The Prisoners of War , just represented at Windsor and now offered to her Majesty ' s subjects in Lond on * ( as in old days Moliere brought his troupe and his genius , crowned with the bravos of Versailles , before the miscellaneous public of Paris ) . Havaiatt—I exclaimed ( keeping up my character as a Hellenist ) —this must be looked to ! Douglas Jerrold i s not only my friend , he is the wittiest man in England , and must be attended to before all the Christian Fathers extant . Besides I have not seen that piece for some years . Let us see what the wittiest of wits and the best actress in England can do for

      once . I went : I saw : I screamed . So did the audience . There was the comedy—not by any means clear as to its story—but sparkling like a diamond with ita thousand facettes — epigrammatic , humorous , sarcastic , pathetic . There was Mrs . Kleeley—the best actress in England in one of her best parts—her appearance was the signal of one immense , hyperbolical , unimaginable guffaw ! Picture her to yourself in the costume of our mothers , the waist under the aim , the white dress with its skimping skirts , the bonnet

      —but no : language relinquishes the attempt to describe her bonnet ! Go and see that article of female adornment ! Go and see her as Polly Pall Mall , if it is only to relish , her reading of that love letter through her tears—and what tears ! what sobs ! what nature and what intensity of shopkeeping grief in the look , in the gestures , in the tones , as Beaver interrupts her , and she tries vaguely to suppress the torrent of her woe , which bubbles up at last in utter abandonment ! You can't see such acting as that often , and had better make a sacrifice to see it .

      But , though I always remember The Prisoners of War mainly in connection with Mrs . Keeley , let me , in justice to the rest , say that all were good in . it . Keeley—looking as if he had stepped from the pages of Gilray—has some wonderful jokes to utter , and you know that nothing confided to him loses its value . Charles Kean plays Lieutenant Firebrace pleasantly ; and Mrs . Kean has the laudable audacity of dressing Clarina so that we think of our mothers , and wonder how men could go into raptures about

      them ! Indeed the dressing of the piece and the general " getting up " is very creditable , and gives positive zest to it . I enjoyed the play so much , that Chrysostom has been closed ever since , and in a few more days will probably furnish a resting-place and a solitude to some erudite spider with a theological turn of mind . The more so as I hear gossip about" active preparations " in more than one quarter—a play at Old Drury , a Comedy by Bourcicalc at the Princess ' s , and a Melodrama by the same at the Olympic ! Vivian .

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  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Feb. 1, 1851, page 110, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1868/page/14/