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" ' " ' ' WiUmhtr* J^iUtlUUlt.
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November 24 , 1855 . ] THE LEADER . 1133
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The criticism of foreigners is always valued . Tlieir recognition is a compliment , and tlie natural difference of their standing-point makes their praise
seem doubly laudatory . Recognition in Germany or 'France is something like that of' . a contemporaneous posterity—distance in space being th < equivalent of distance in time . The foreigner may err , no doubt ; but it is difficult to persuade the admired author of his critic ' s fallibility . At an ) rate the compliment is always gratefully accepted , and we are sure WiLKIE Collins will feel that his generous but discerning critic in La Revue det Deux Mondes is an admirable critic and a remarkable writer , which indeed he is , as all who know the articles signed E . D . Forgues will at once admit . M . Forgues analyzes the three novels , Antonina , Basil , Hide and Seek , giving the preference to Basil , and , while dwelling with evident sympathy on their merits , touches lightly yet firmly the faults he espies . Madame Dk Sevigne , after dancing with the King , exclaimed to all who would hear her , " C'est le plus grand roi dtt monde J" Wilkik Collins will be ungrateful if he says less of Emilk Forgues . In the same number of the Revue , M . Ernest Renan introduces Ewald ' s History of the People of Israel to £ the French readers , in an article at once weighty and brilliant . Too many writers on grave subjects confound dulness with gravity ; but , as Chesterfield happily says , " weight without lustre is lead . "
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LONGFELLOW'S NEW POEM . The Song of Hiawatha . By Henry Wadsworth Longfellow . Bogue . Since Goethe wrote his Hermann and Dorothea there has been no poem so ' thoroughly Homeric and so perfectly original as this Song of Hiawatha ; and ' by Homeric we do not mean " imitative of Homer , " anymore than by ! original we mean " , unheard-of , unlike all other poems . " Mr . Longj fellow does for the Indian myths and Indian life what Homer did for the old Hellenic myths and life . The clear objective delineation , the breezy out' of-doorness , the picture of what is elemental in nature and humanity , ' untroubled by introspective reflection , undisturbed by the somewhat morbidly ^ sensitive egoism of the subjective poets—in a word , the complete suppression 1 of the singer ' s individuality , and the entire devotion of the singer to his ; son " , make this poem Homeric , in the true sense of the word , although no « vestige of imitation can be detected . It has Homer ' s picturesqueness , his ? garrulous repetition and wondrous brief painting ; it has his absence of reflectiveness , and his daring freedom in painting the things as they are , without any regard to " dignity . " There is also a playful humour lighting up some parts of it ; not loud , not tending to caricature , and still less aiming at wit : the simple laugh of a simple nature , such as befits the simplicity of the whole . The pathos is equally simple . The originality of the poem , and its marvellous art , will be felt by all readers . It is a new world opened to us . "We live as in fairy-land , where all is strange , yet all is congruous . The prairie , the interminable forests , and the great lakes , are ever before us ; not once are we recalled to drawingrooms of the nineteenth century . We hear the winds singing among the fir-cones the canoe grating on the beach , the wild goose screaming in the air , the squirrels chattering on the branches ; we are living among Indian warriors magicians , and talking-beasts , and never , for one instant , does the nao-ginw fancy droop to earth , never once " the fever and the stir unprofitable " our smoky cities , our Crimean perplexities , or our increased taxation , come to remind us of reality . _ .. . . . No approximate idea will be formed of this Indian Edda from extracts ; but we must give some to render our remarks intelligible . The first shall be from Hiawatha ' s fishing : — Forth upon the Gitche Gumee , On the shining Big-Sea-Water , With his fishing-line of cedar , Of the twisted bark of cedar , Forth , to catch the sturgeon Nahma , Miahne Nahma , King of Fishes , In his birch-canoe exulting All alone went Hiawatha . Through the clear , transparent water He could see the fishes swimming , Fai' down in the depths below him ; See the yellow perch , the Sahwa , Like a sunbeam in the water ; Soo the Shawgashee , the crawiiah , Like a spider on the bottom , On the white and sandy bottom . At the stern sat Hiawatha , With his fishing-line of cedar ; In his plumes the breeze of morning Played as in the hemlock branches ; On the bowa with tail erected . Sat the Bquirrel , Adjidaumo ; In his fur the breeze of morning Played as in the prairie grasses . On the white sand of the bottom Lay the monster Mishno-Nahma , Lay the sturgeon , King of fishee ; Through his gills he breathed the water . With his fins lie fanned and winnowed , With his tail he swept the sand-floor . There ho lay in all his amour ; On each Bido a shield to guard him , Plates of bone upon his forehead , Down his sides and back and shoulder * Plates of bone with spin © projecting I Painted woa ho with hb war-paints . Stripes of yellow , red , and azure , Spots of brown and spots of aafolo ; And ho lay there on the bottom , Fanning with his fins of purple , Ho the terror of tho fishes , The destroyor of the salmon , The devouror of tho herring . , , . 1 ? ( , f « f , I I
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¦ It was an excellent conception which gave birth to the Oxford Essays , published last year , and to the Cambridge Essays , published the other day . The annual issue of a collection of Essays having unity of tone and culture , with independence and variety of opinion , was certain to interest tlie University class , and many readers of the larger circle . We think , however , that the plan would have gained in purpose , even if it lost something in variety , had only resident members been selected as contributors . Upon the present principle , although each contributor is an University man , one sees not why other University men were not called upon to honour Alma Mater , by showing of what " stuff" her sons are made . Cambridge Essays ought to mean Essays produced at Cambridge . Otherwise , the Essays of Macaulay , or Thackeray-, or Helps , or Bulwer , being the productions of Cambridge men , may equally claim that title . Had resident members been the sole contributors , we should have had some gauge of the University , and its point of view ; but , in the present scheme , we are at a loss to decide whether it is the University point of -view or that of the general world in which the writers move . Apart from this , perhaps hypercritical , objection , we have only applause to give the undertaking . The volume is one of solid excellence , like the cream of the year ' s Reviews , with the politics omitted . The contents are various , the subjects well chosen , the execution always scholarly , sometimes very remarkable . The opening article is on the Life and Genius ofMoliere written by Christopher Knight Watson , a descendant , we understand of Bishop Watson , whose Chemical Essays , Apology for Christianity , and Autobiography , are doubtless knovjn to the reader . This Essay is . really a valuable contribution to Literature , and will be best appreciated by those who have given any labour to the difficult task of ascertaining what were the facts of Moliere ' s life , amid the confusions and contradictions of biographers . Having ourselves twice made that attempt , we can with some confidence point to this Essay as the best account of Moliere ' s life which has yet been written . The criticism , besides labouring under the disadvan- tage of not being written by a dramatist , or one who is keenly alive to the peculiarities of dramatic literature as distinguished from all other forms , is more in the style of moral dissertation , than of critical discrimination : the peculiarities of Mo LI ere , as wit , as humorist , as stylist , and as poet , are supposed to be understood . Let Mr . Watson , on some future occasion , give us an Essay on Moliere ' s genius ,- in which that marvellous intellect may be characterised in detail , and he will find welcome from all readers . The second article is by Mr . Bristed , anu is on c »» o ^ n . y - « .. > .. ^ u . ^ ,. ^ 6 »» . America ; full of curious detail , but coming to no more serious conclusion than that America speaks , and will continue to speak English . Mr . Galton ' s article , Notes ore Modern Geography , and Mr . Buxton ' s Limitations to Severity in War , we have not read . Mr . G . D . Liveing has a good subject in the Transmutation of Matter , which he treats in a style , colourless , indeed , but grave and dignified , with ample knowledge . Instead of believing , with some sanguine chemists , in the possibility of one metal being transformed into another , and the still more seductive hypothesis of all the elements being ultimately reduced to one , Mr . Liveing regards both as mere modifications of the old chimsera , which seduced men to search for the Philosopher ' s Stone . The Relation of Novels to Life was a felicitous idea ; but Mr . Fitzjames Stephen has written little more than notes towards such an essay—good notes too , for the most part , but leaving no permanent impression . The Future Prospects of the British Navy , by Mr . R . H . Huches > we leave to nautical authorities ; but Mr . George Brimley ' s masterly commentary on Tennyson will , after all that hns been written on that subject these fifteen years , be as welcome and as suggestive as if no one had ever preceded him . We confess that the mere sight of an essay on Tennyson , extending over some fifty pages , raised anything but pleasurable expectations in our minds , in spite of Mr . Brimley ' s university reputation ; and , if any reader feels the same misgiving , let him at once exchange it for eagerness , and begin this essay with the determination to read every void . It is a commentary , not a criticism , although very fine criticism is inwoven , with the commentary . Each group of poems is taken up in turn , and the sceptics arc shown what it is which the admirers find in the poet to justify their deep admiration . In this commentary there are , of course , many points on which the reader will differ from the commentator , nor can it be otherwise in the exposition of individual sentiments and taste ; but in no page will he find idle writing , insincere rhetoric , or the attempt to be " original , " which makes ordinary criticism so capricious and so futile . The last article is by W . G . Clark , whose bright intellect and varied culture have no subject worthy of th < sm in the defence of classical studies , which he treats effectively enough in his criticism of opponents , but not with any novelty in his defence of tho university system . On this point , however , the opinions of the Leader have been repeatedly expressed .
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Critics are not the legislators , bub tlie judges and police of literature . Tney do not OT make laws—they interpret and try to enforce them . — Edinburgh Review .
" ' " ' ' Wiumhtr* J^Iutluult.
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Nov. 24, 1855, page 1133, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2116/page/17/
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