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    Study the Classics , and beware of the syren-charms wliicli enervate the Modems ! that is the text from which he preaches . The logical consequence is Imitation . Study the Classics , and the Moderns too , hut beware of the rudeness and baldness of the one , no less than of the rhetoric and glitter -of the other ! That is our text . ' For we believe the Ancients to have had every virtue and every vice conspicuous in the Moderns , over and above the remoteness of their ideas and feelings , which to us moderns becomes a vice . When the Classics are good , they are so by virtue of qualities essential m

    all excellent works 6 f Art ; when they are had , which is mostly the case , they are so by vice of qualities noticeable in every age—rudeness , incongruity , untruth , greater regard for manner than for matter , and for the mere fopperies of manner . Homer , with all his fine qualities , is as rude as hemp ; JEschylus is often as fantastic , obscure , and incongruous , and Virgil as feeble , affected , and unpictorial as the very worst specimens which can be selected from eminent poets of Modern times . To deny this would be to deny evidence . It is not the traditional belief , but it is a fact .

    Such being our critical faith , instead of Imitation we counsel Emulation ; instead of following the mere fashions of Greek Art , follow no fashions but those which bear the general verdict of your age , and while learning from the Greeks the lessons they and all great , artists have to teach , beware , above all things , of imitating them . Mr . Arnold , as a scholar , and one of poetical tendencies rather than of poetical genius , a man of culture , reflection , and sensibility , but not Forming one of that small band of Singers who " sing as the birds sing , " naturally looks towards Greece for inspiration . His poems will delight scholars , who will with curious pleasure follow him in his undisguised

    imitations of works which long have been their ideals ; they will note his curiosities of verse , and his Grsccism of imagery . Nor will the larger public read without delight . Poems such as these are not common . Borne of the qualities most easily appreciable these poems possess , and they will secure an audience . But the fit audience is that of the cultured few . The longest poem in the volume , Sohrab and Eustum , will be the greatest favourite , for it tells an intelligible and interesting story , and the story moves through pictures and patios such as we rarely meet in volumes of poetry . " It has its Grsecisms , but they are little more than ornaments of questionable taste ; the real attractiveness lies in the qualities just named . Let a brief analysis make this apparent . Sohrab , who is Hustum ' s son , unknown to Hustum , is everywhere seeking his father ; and the place most certain to find Hustum is a battlefield . Ill order that his fame may reach his father ' s ear , Sohrab entreats to be allowed to challenge , in single combat , a champion from the Persian ranks . The request is granted , In the following graphic description of the filing hosts , the reader will have no difficulty in tracing Homer and Milton : — " The sun , by this , had risen , and clear'd the fog From the broad Oxus and the glittering sands : And from their tents the Tartar horsemen fil'd Into the open plain ; so Haman bade ; Haman , who next to Peran-Wisa rul'd The host , and still was in his lusty prime . From their black tents , long files of horse , they stream'd : As when , some grey November morn , the files , In marching order spread , of long-neck'd cranes , Stream over Casbin , and the southern slopes Of Elburz , from the Aralian estuaries , Or some frore Caspian reed-bed , southward bound For the warm Persian sea-board : so they stream'd . The Tartars of the Oxus , the King ' s guard , First , with black sheej ) -skiri caps and with long spears ; Large men , large steeds ; who from Bokhara come And Khiva , and ferment the milk of mares . Next the more temperate Toorkmuns of the south , The Tukas , and the lances of Salore , And those from Attuek and the Caspian sands ; Light men , and on light fsteeds , who only drink The acrid milk of camels , and their wells . And then a swarm of wandering hor . se , who camo From far , and a more doubtful service own'd ; The Tartars of Ferghana , from the hanks Of the . Jaxartes , men witli scanty beards And close-Hot skull-capo ; and those wilder hordes Who roam o'er Kipehak and the northern waste Kalmuks and unkeinp'd Kuz / . aks , tribes who stray Nearest the Pole , and wandering Kirghizes , Who come on shaggy ponies from Pamore . These all iilM out from cam ]) into tlm plain . And on tho other side the Persians fonu'd : First a light cloud of borne , Tartars tlioy seem'd , The llyats oi ' Kliorassan : and behind , The . royal troops of Persia , horse , and loot , JMarshall'd battalions bright in burnished steel . Hut Peran-Wisii with his herald caino Threading the Tartar squadrons to the front , And with his stall'kept buck the foremost ranks . And when Forood , who 1 <« I the Persians , saw That Peran-Wisa kept tho Taitars back , Ho took Imh spear , and to the front he o .-unn , And check'd his ranks , and fix'd them where they stood . And the old Tartar came upon tho Hand Betwixt tho silent hosts , and spake , and said : — " 'Forood , and ye , Pernians and Tartars , bear ! Let there bo truce between tho hosts to-day . But choose a champion from tho Persian lords To light our champion Hohrab , man to man . ' "As , in tho country , on a morn in June , Whon tho dew glistens on the pearled oars , A . shiver runs through the deep corn for joy—So , when they heard what Poran-Wiwi aaid ,

    A thrill through all the Tartar squadrons ran Of pride and hope for Sohrab , whom they lov'd . "But as a troop of pedlars , from Cabool , Cross underneath the Indian Caucasus , That vast sky-neighbouring mountain of milk snow ; Winding so high , that , as they mount , they pass ¦ Long flocks of travelling birds dead on the snow , Chok'd by the air , and scarce can the y themselves Slake their _ parch ' d throats with sugar'd mulberries—In single file they move , and stop their breath , For fear they should dislodge the o ' erhanging snows—So the pale Persians held their breath with fear . " The imitation mars this for all except scholars . But , to continue . The Persians accept the challenge , and then go to Rustum ' s tent , as the Greeks did . to that of Achilles , and implore his arm ; Rustum answers : •—" ' Go to ! if Iran's Chiefs are old , then I Am older : if the young are weak , the King Errs strangely : for the King , for Kai Khosroo , Himself is young , and honours younger men , And lets the aged moulder to their graves . Rustum he loves no more , but loves the young—The young may rise at Sohrab's vaunts , not I . For what care I , though all speak Sohrab ' s fame ? For would that I myself had such a son , And not that one slight helpless girl I have , A son so fam'd , so brave , to send to war , And I to tarry with the snow-hair'd Zal , My father , whom the robber Afghans vex , And clip his borders short , and drive his herds , And he has none to guard his weak old age . There would I go , and hang my armour up And with my great name fence that weak old man , And spend the goodly treasures I have got , And rest my age , and hear of Sohrab ' s fame , And leave to death the host of thankless kings , And with these slaughterous hands draw sword no more . "' They prevail , however , at last , and" So follow'd , Rustum left his tents , and cross'd The camp , and to the Persian host appear' d , And all the Persians knew him , and with shouta Hail'd ; but the Tartars knew not who he was . And dear as the wet diver to the eyes Of his pale wife who waits and weeps on shore , By sandy Bahrein , in the Persian Gulf , Plunging all day in the blue waves , at night , Having made up his tale of precious pearls , Rejoins her _ in their hut upon the sands—So dear to the pale Persians Rustum came . " And Rustum to the Persian front advane'd , And Sohrab arm'd in Hainan ' s tent , and came . And as afield the reapers cut a swathe Down through the middle of a rich man ' s corn , And on each side are squares of standing corn , And in the midst a stubble , short and bare ; So on each side weie squai'es of men , with spears Bristling , and in the midst , the open sand . And Rustum came upon the sand , and cast His eyes towards the Tartar tents , and saw Sohrab come forth , and ey'd him as he came . "As some rich woman , on a winter ' s morn , Eyes through her silken curtains the poor drudgo Who with numb-blacken'd fingers makes her firo—At cock-crow , on a starlit winter ' s morn , When the frost flowers the whiten'd window panea—¦ And wonders how she lives , and what the thoughts Of that poor drudge may be ; so Rustum ey'd The unknown adventurous Youth , who from afar Came seeking Rustum , and defying forth All the most valiant chiefs : long he penis'd His spirited air , and wonder'd who he was . For very young he seem'd , tenderly fear'd ; Like some young cypress , tall , and dark , and straight , Which in a queen ' s secluded garden throws Its slight dark shadow on the moonlit turf , By midnight , to a bubbling fountain ' s sound—So slender Sohrab Heom'd , so softly rear'd . And a deep pity enter'd Kustum ' s soul As ho beheld him coming ; and he stood , And beckon'd to him with his hand , and said : — " O thou young man , the air of Heaven is soft , And warm , and pleasant ; but tho grave is cold . Heaven ' s air is better than the cold dead grave . Behold mo : I am vast , and clad in iron , And tried ; and I have stood on many a field Of blood , and I have fought with many a foe : Never was that field lost , or that foe sav'd . O Sohrab , wherefore wilt thou rush on death ? Be govorn'd : quit tho Tartar host , and coiuo To Iran , and bo as my son to me , And fight beneath my banner till I die , There are no youths in Iran bravo as thou . ' " So he spake , mildly : Sohrab heard his voico , The mighty voices of itustum ; and ho saw His giant figure planted on the sand , Sole , like some single tower , which a chief Has Imilded on the waste in former yeara Against the robboro . " , , Sohrab HiiflpoctM tliat it in his father standing thoro before ll »" ' !" . ' embracing bin knccB , asks if it bo not ho . But JRustum , fancying i' 11 . *" Homo cunning in tliiw quoHlion , cvados the question , and lorcos no fight : — " Ho spoke ; and Sohrab kindled at hiH taunts , And ho too drew hia sword : at onco they ruah ' d

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    1170 THE LEADE R . [ Satitrday ,

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Dec. 3, 1853, page 1170, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2015/page/18/