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Leader (1850-1860), 6th January 1855, Edition 1 of 2, Page 20, Untitled Article

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      Untitled Article

      tmm ^ &r ^ i ^^^^^^^ began as follows : — In the north-western part of the state of North Carolina , upon the head-waters of theriver Y ^ jTstream somewhat noted in our revolutionary annals for scenes of Sartisln waS ; andnear the little town of Hfflsborough , a place of nojjreat note at SKSenTda ^ bSSg the last quarter of the eighteenth centary , when our ^ tory COTiSeicel ^ Sdered quitef famous ( at l east in the estimation of its inhabitants )^ SSZ head-We » . of General Cornw ^ B for ^ ort period , jus ^ after the the into Virginiawas a small

      uncdeb ^ t ^ retoart ^ of total Greene across Dan , pretending farm-house—— " ¦ £ . ,. L ¦ , ¦ Here , unhinged in mind and body by Pippins and Ptes , we fainted over The Scout ' s Revenge before we had got to the end of tbe first sentence , i he experienced and careful medical attendant of ourself ( and family ) , happenini ? to call in at the time , brought us to life again , but took away our booCassuring lis that any attempt to finish the sentence just at present ¦ would be attended with the direst results . Under these distressing circumstances we can only make our best apologies to the author ; and regret our physical inability to offer an opinion on bis book .

      Untitled Article

      MATTHEW ARNOLD'S POEMS . Poems . By Matthew Arnold . ( Second Series . ) Longman and Co . We regard this volume as a promise of something to come more than as a notable * achievement in itself . It will satisfy the readers whom Mr . Arnold has already gained , but it will not win for him tbat wider audience which , we hope and believe , he is one day destined to address . The first and longest in this second series of Poems—^ Balder Dead "—is the least to our taste of any in the collection . Standing towards Mr . Arnold , as critics , in the position of members of the public who are able to give reasons for what they like or dislike in literaturej we may as well candidly confess that the Northern mythology , from which the material of " Balder Dead" has been taken , is rather too remote a subject to awaken our sympathies . The interests of Odin and Balder—of mythical sea-kings and monstrous gods and

      goddesses—are notthe interests that touch bur hearts . As readers of poetry , we belong to the mob—in other words , we must feel what we read , or we can never enjoy it . We take no exception to Mr . Arnold ' s treatment of" Balder Dead "—we admire the high finish and sweet melody of his versification , and the pure English of his style , as much as anybody can—but his subject repels us . We know that it is grimly sublime ; and , penetrated with that knowledge , pass on with all decent rapidity to some Other poem . " The Sick Bang in Bokhara" strikes us as being much p leasariter reading than ^ Balder , " because there is some human interest in it . The manly simplicity and vigdur of Mr . Arnold as a writer impress us verv favourably in this second poem of his new collection . The two next subjects treated are of the classical kind . Having no respect for anything Greet or Roman

      in Eng li sh poetry , feeling a positivejconviction that the chiet faults ot our greatest poets are to be traced to their veneration for classical models and to their distrustof ^ themielves , we passed by the " Harp-player on Etna" and the '¦ ** Fragment of an Antigone , " and fastened eagerly on Mr . Arnold ' s minor poems . These , for the most part , delighted us . We knew that they were genuine utterances of feeling while we read them . Some of them still linger on our memory , just as sweet simple music ( not of the classical kind ) lingers on the ear . After the confession we have made , and the utterly uncritical sentiments which we have expressed , Mr . Arnold will probably have no respect for our opinion , and no anxiety to see even a solitary specimen of our taste in the shape of a selection from one of his minor poems . Nevertheless , for the sake of our readers , we must make one quotation .- The idea and the expression strike us as being alike pure , delicate , and beautiful in these four verses , called " Longing : " —

      Come to me in my dreams , and then By day I shall be well again . For then the night will more than ~ pay The hopeless longing of the day .-Come , as thou cam'st a thousand times , A messenger from radiant climes , And smile on thy new world , and be As land to others as to me . Or , as thou never cam ' st in sooth , Come now , and let me dream it truth ; And part my hair , and kiss my brow , And say— -My love ! why sufferest thou t

      Come to me in my dreams , and then By day I shall be well again . For then the night will more than pay ( The hopeless longing of the day . ^ All " Balder Dead ' did not give us half the pleasure which this exquisite little poem produced . There are other passages in the minor poems which equal it , but which we have not room to quote . So long as Mr . Arnold writes from his own heart , and forgets all " the illustrious models of antiquity , " he does what he pleases with our sympathies , and suggests to us the brightest hopes of his poetical future . All really great poets have made their own styles , fixed their own rules , chosen their own subjects . If Mr . Arnold will only look forward instead of looking back—if he will trust as much as possible to himself , and as little as possible to anyone else—he may rest assured , not only of taking a high place in his art , but of getting a largo audience to listen to him into the bargain .

      Untitled Article

      VARIETIES . . . .. A Soy ' s Adventures in the Wilds of Australia . By Wm . Howitt . Arthur Hall , Virtue , and Co , Children's Trials ; or tie Little Hope Dancers . By Linden . TrUbner and Co . The Forest Smiles . By Captain Mayne Reid . . D . Bogue Tit for Tat , By Julia . Clarke arid Breton . Too much Alike ; or the Three Calendars . By John Lang . Ward and Lock . Chup&bn reign just now in the Kingdom of Literature , as ' in { hat of the Commissariat , and many fair fruits are hung , temptingly to their little

      ^ hands , upon the Christmas-tree of Knowledge . Mr . Howitt promotes . a passion for emigration calculated to supersede the immemorial vocation for ffoing to sea , peculiar to the boy . Herbert ' s Adventures form a very pleasant , probable ; , and picturesque volume , not so ponderously instructive as to be disagreeable . The book is not of the pitfall order , whereby children are inveigled into the involuntary improvement of their idle little minds , but a ponajide i story-book , from which the "boy , " for whom it is written , may derive information disguised in amusement . _ ' . .., -.. Children ' s Trials * translated from the German of Linden , is ^ worthy ot its brethren : there is tbe same simple pathos and truthfulness which have made his former works so dear to the tiny , tender hearts they are meant to address . Here is the child who was lost and is found , and the mother who refused to be comforted ; and the joy and the grief are quite real . There is much of the earnest simplicity of Andersen's famous children s stories in The Little Bone Dancers , without his fantastic grace and luxuriant

      T ) D 9 . nt £ LSV ' ' ' ' The Forest Exiles is a story of furious adventures in the Gordon Cumming line , delightful to the credulous age . " The biggest wood in the world is the scene ' of the biggest stories . Not that it would not be very pleasant to " camp" out there , always provided all the '" possums" were up all the gum-trees . . ¦ _ . . ... , Tit for Tat may suit Yankee taste and " convene" for aYankee publisher , but we fear it is likely to "fix" its author in anything but a satisfactory " standing" in the estimation of the English public , who do not believe m such wholesale aristocratic atrocities , and who " happen to know that London chimney-sweeps , even under the old regime , did not kidnap the sons and heirs of noblemen . The book professes to be " a settler for English sympathy with Uncle Tom , but it only settles the point of the to tne xat

      writer ' s capabilities , and the " Tit" is by no means equal " . " Too much Alike ; or , the Three Calendars . —Here is a little story whicb contains some amusing elements . Three gentlemen are so much alike , that they cannot be distinguished apart . They are friends ; they dress alike , and cultivate similar manners and habits . Unfortunately , they over-work the amazing similitude , and fall in love with the same young lady . _ The difficulties which might arise from this somewhat impossible combination are cleverly worked up ^ and the reader may depend upon being made to laugh violently- —not , however , that a more serious chord is not touched with a certain power . A third edition which is before us testifies to the public appreciation of a former story by Mr . Langj Too Cleverly Half .

      Untitled Article

      Among the children's literature of the season , we must not , because of its petty proportions , overlook 4 he Fairy-Library of-Geprge Gruikshank ( D . Bogue ) , " Cinderella and the Glass Slipper" beingHfche present ^ presentation , illustrated with an elaborate fancifulness suggesting the rejuvenescence ( thanks * perhaps , to the water cure ) of one of the greatestof draughtsmen—though he never could draw . All his characteristic qualities as an artist are brought out in his design , in this little volume , of * ' The Marriage " —perhaps as good a thing as he has ever done . But Mr . Cruikshank _ is not merefy the artist , he is alsorthe editor , and he edits on a new p lan . He objects" to the aecepted versions of the fijriry storiefi that they inculcate bad morals—as in "Jack the Giant Killer , " whose history , says conscientious , temperate , and Peace-Society Mr . Cruikstiank , is little more

      than a succession of slaughterings and bloodshed ; and , as in the story of " Hop-o ' -my-Thumb , " where parents are represented as acting in a manner only to be explained by the supposition that ' •* they were under the influence of intoxicating liquor" —and he has set about refashioning all these things in his " Library , " bringing fairy literature into harmony with "Christian , P . xecepts , 'L . by _ which , _ of _ course ,-MrJ .-Cruikshank » cannot ^ niean _ lhe-JS ( Iosaicrecords . Mr . Dickens , in Household Words , has uttered his protest against this method of dealing with the child ' s classics ; and against Mr . Dickens Mr . Cruikshank now fulminates very shaky thunder . His best defence is in the question he puts , " What harm can I do ? " It may be allowed that he will do none whatever : Mr . Dickens may sleep in peace— "Jack the Giant Killer , " the slaughterer and blood shedder , will be a hero long after the Temperance Movement has moved itself out . But that consideration , wliiIn TVfiv ririiiiraiinnlr'a Yiaef . riafanoa ia nnt a navfa / tt : a-vnnavatinn Wo ia

      entitled to try fairy literature of his own- —making Mother Hubbard as logical as ' Mrs . Fry , and the Ogre ( speaking generally of that frequent character ) as apostolical as Mr . Lawrence Heyworth . Our privilege of unlicensed printing guarantees unlimited idiotcy in a free country . But he has no proper business perverting , for his own highly but not exniliratingl y moral purpose , a text dear to believers who are at least numerous enough to deserve respect . When Joe Smith resolved to found a religion , he wrote his own Bible ; and the analogous class of humbugs bent on the indiscriminate amelioration of everybody ' s condition should take to the scrupulosity of their prototype .

      Untitled Article

      ILLUSTRATED BOOKS . Jerusalem Revisited . By W . H . Bartlett . Hall , Virtue , and Co . The Deserted Village . By , Oliver Goldsmith . Illustrated by the Etching Club . Sampson Low and Son . Both these volumes are , in different ways , attractive gift-books for Christmastime . A melancholy interest is attached to the first , from the fact that the wellknown author and artist by whom the book has been produced is now no more . ' Cut off in the flower of his age , and in the full vigour of intellect , after a few hours' illness , he lias found a sepulchre in the waters of the Mediterranean , whose shores ho had so often and bo successfully illustrated . " It must be some consolation to Mr . JBartlett ' a family and friends to know that his last Pictorial Work is well worthy of his reputation , and does the fullest justice to his powers both as author and artist . The letter-press of Jerusalem Revisited is full of interesting information—and the Illustrations show A'l the delicacy of treatment and excellent choice of subject which made the late Mr . Bartlett so deservedly successful in his labours'with the pencil . The promise of the Frontispiece and Vignette is kept up throughout the volume It is an interesting book to look through , and a useful book to read , ' The excellent original illustrations to The Deserted Village , by the Etching Club , are well and widely known . They have been copied by the wood engraver

      Untitled Article

      26 fffE LEADER . LSATtopat ,

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Jan. 6, 1855, page 20, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2072/page/20/