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Leader (1850-1860), 21st November 1857, Edition 1 of 2, Page 1123, Untitled Article

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      appraisement of contemporaries . Mr . Ainsworth coming into the Iistj we are told that his character of Turpin is ' a glowing , literary reality .. ' Then -we discover that Sir Archibald Alison is a great historian ; that Mr . Matthew Arnold is a ' statuesque and Grecian poet '—whatever that may mean ; that Professor Aytoun is as serviceable a writer as is possessed by the Tory party ; tbatM . . Louis Blanc is ' a political theorist ;* that France requires ' not a Henry T " ., ' but a second ' Henry IV . ; ' that one light writer ' s pieces are ' instinct with fun ., ' and another ' s , ' poems , and no mistake . ' L * ord Cardigan is generously pe rmitted to tell all about himself ; a distinguished novelist is warned that he is making dangerous experirivents > on the public taste . ; and it is cuttingly said of Lord Cranworth that he ' stands indebted for a niche' in the present book to the eminence of his . position rather than to bis dazzling qualifications . Mr . Diekens ' 3 name affords an

      excuse for a totally irrelevant hit at the Guild of Literature and Art . Mr . Forster , -we are sure , ought to be grateful for the patronage bestowed en iis Life of Goldsmith , nor will certain authors , young and old , be wantingin devotion to the English M . de Mirecourt who has so successfully searched history for their ancestry , whether among loyal Scotch ladies , or ancient English gentry of competent fortune . Seven lines devoted to M . Bastiat , prepare us for "whole pages lavished on some one whom we may be very happy to know , but who was pertainly unknown to us before he appeared as a Man of the Time . As biography , \ ye are bound to say the work is of scarcely any value , the statements being ' wrong or right , to all appearance , by accident . It may be sought for by those who are praised in it , hoping for no praise elsewhere ; but if foreign opinion be a contemporary posteritVj this sort of thing is contemporary insolence .

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      LATTER-DAY POETRY . The Revolt of Hindosian ; or , the New World . A Eoem , By Ernest Jones . { Ef tinghain Wilson . )—Originally printed for private circulation , with the title which now stands second , this poem is here issued to the general public with the added designation of ' The Revolt of Hindostan , ' for the sake , we suppose , of drawing capital from the present crisis . A few pages in the early part of the book have reference to the contest now going 011 in the East , which Mr . Jones considers as a just retribution for the many iniquities which he imputes to us In connexion with India ; but the relevance of this to the other portions of the poem is by no means clear . Mr . Jones begins with America ; then leaps to Hindostan ; next brings America and India together in some obscure vinion ; and finally sketches the

      progress of modern society through the regal , aristocratic , and middleclass stages , to a Paradisaical condition of democratic equality . Having , t » 7 ineau » of'th-tt prupbetic power which ia commonly supposed to dwell in poets , landed the white portion of humanity in this blissful state of earthly existence , Mr . Jones unrols before us a new chapter of disaster , to which the Indian re-volt is as nothing . The blacks of Africa and America are to rise in on « overwhelming tide of wrath and vengeance , to pour down upon the Old "World , and to wipe oft" their long account of suffering and oppression by a tremendous act of retaliation . After this , we are abruptly taken back to the Paradisaical state of things —though bow , we know not——and the poem concludes with a vision of the ^ voxltl no it -will bd -when kings , priests , nobles , soldiers , and lawyers , shall

      have vanished froin the land . Jh « following . out this perplexed and dusky scheme , Mr . Jones writes several energetic , and many beautiful , passages ; but the whole poem is provokingly imperfect on account of its obscurity . It is'divided into parts ; but the connexion between not a few of the 3 e is imperceptible , and particular passages are often needlessly unclear . This is the more remarkable , as Mr . Jones , in managing his heroic couplet , affects the mannor of Pope , the most terse and translucent of writers . Wo must also object to a certain fanaticism in his opinions . In describing the dominance of th « middle class , or in other words tbe present phase of society , lie surely overcharges his picture of the miseries and wrongs of the working orders . There is a great deal yet to be amended , beyond doubt ; much compensation to be . yielded , many mistakes to be atoned for . But the middle classes , though tainted with the selfishness that is common to all human beings , are not absolutely the enemies of working men , but , on the contrary , have contributed to their progress bv a considerable amelioration

      ol feudal serfdom , and by securing personal liberty and freedom of speech and writing . Mr . Jones falls into the same error as Mr . Paul Richardson , whose book we recently reviewed—the fanaticism which cannot or will not recognize a partial good , simply because it is partial . What , also , does he mean to typify by his ideal king , who was a human angel for bonovolence , but who was murdered by his people , the designing nobles having falsely asserted that he was the sole causo of all the evil which they themselves had wrought ? Strange doctrine , this , for one who says that all kings arc plagues and curses to the earth ! Wo cannot uvoid a suspicion that this ideal monarch is meant to typify Charles I . —one of the meanest , falsest-, and most heartless men who ever wielded a ^ -seeptre to the ¦ misery and degradation of a people . If our conjecture be right , it suggests a strange comment on the character of JVlr . Jones ' s Republicanism , lhil , quitting thiri branch of the subject , we will leave the reader to judge for himself of the poetical merits of The Revolt of lUmloslan * by means of one or two selections . The following is acutely felt and happily expressed : —

      For a'or Time ' s dial , as the houra swoop by , Tin through tlio shadow that who notes Lheui fly ; i ^ nd yet tUat » hudow , bo it dark as ni ^ -lit , Serves but to prove the jjroi / rcss nf the lit / lit . Speaking of an oLd Israelite , who soos a vision ol" Judea from his death bed , Mr , Jones writes : — Why bonds he na ono listening ? Ilnsli ! Ho hoar .-j The cedars wkispr . Hinj of their tJiousuiuf yours . This is the poet ' s vision of ' thu New " World ' : — Mechanic power then miiriatora to health , Ami longtheniug loisuro gladden a threatening wealth : Drove . alchemy , the baffled . hoya ol ol « L

      Then forms the diamond and concretes the gold ; ] STo fevered lands with burning plagues expire , But draw the rain as Franklin drew the ( ire ; Or far to mountains guide the floating hail , And / whirl on barren rocks its harmless flail . Then shall the eye , with wide extended sight , Translate the starry gospel of tie ni ght ; And not as now , when narrower bounds are set , See , but not read , the shining alphabet . Unhooded knowledge then shall freely seau . That mighty -world of breathing wonders—man ! How act and- \ viir are one , shall stand defined ; How heart is feeling , and how brain is mind . Those halcyon day-s shall witness discord cease , And one great family abide in peace ; While ball and bayone t but remain to tell , That lofty race how low their fathers fe-lL One language then endearingly extends : Shall tougues be strangers still , wlieii hearts are-friends ? But , in that happier ag ; e , from zone to zone ,. One bloom shall brighten , and one joy l > e knowu : Earth ' s . angel , then , at God ' s supreme comaiand , "Waving to north ' and south an emerald hand , Their [ V ] golden keys receiving from the sun , 'Unlocks the crystal poTtals one by one . Again on polar isles the stately palm Beckons the Taarqne along the rippling calm ; And frostsmokes fleeting from each icy cape , To Greenland yield once more the clusterhig grape . Then , as the waifs , of . sin are swept away , ' Mayhap the world may meet its destined , dayV A day of change and eonsununition bright , After its long Aurora and old night . Xo millions shrieking in a fiery flood ; 25 T 6 blasphemies of vengeance and of blood , — Making the end of G-od ' s great vork of joy , And of . Almighty -wisdom—> to destroy ! . -. ¦/' ¦ No kindling comet , and no fading sun ; . But Heaven and . Earth , uniting , melt ia one . ' One of tlie Million . ' puts forth a littlecolledtton of prose and verse called Vestigia CSaunders and Otley ) , to -whick he appends a Preface , wherein it anpears that those productions are issued in accordance -with the advice of friends . When a man wishes to dazzle the public with his lucubrations , he is seldom in -want of ' friends ' to ' . encourage him to take that perilous step ; and their counsel in this matter is not seldom one of the reasons for justifying us in that earnest prayer to "be saved from our friends which often rises in the ^ heart , though it may not be uttered by the lips . ' One of the Million ' is probably a gentleman of cultivated mind ; but he exhibits no qualities likely to atti'act the critic or the public . Those who like an exciting story of love , war , and revenge , told after the manner of Scott ' s tales in verse ^ -that is to say , with a kind of dashing picturesqueness , mingled with commonplace , and not unsiiggBstive of a chivalrous spectacle at Astley ' s , with plenty of i-ed-fire at the wings—will be pleased with the Rev . John Anderson ' s Legend of Glencoe , - which , together with some Other Poems , \ s published by Messrs . Longman find Co . The same author issues from the establishment of Messrs . Arthur Hall , Virtue , and Co ., a poetn in heroic couplet , interspersed , with lyrics , culled The Pleasures of Home . It is open to no serious objection , but is written in a style of received description and obvious didacticism , which is at least half a century behind its time , as far as metropolitan readers are concerned , though , ¦ we believe it is still patronized by country clergymen aud the audiences at provincial lecture-rooms . ¦ "" . Eugerae , or the Spa / iia / i JJride , by Florence De Vere ( Ward and Lock ) , is a drama in . doggrel verse , meant to be serious and romantic , but singularly like a Christinas burlesque at the theatres , onl } ' that there are no ' points , ' and not even the solace of a bad pun , though some notes are appended explaining that certain passages are meant , to have a bearing on the present day . The nature of the writing may be judged from these two lines : — The pirate ships will never come in sight ; What can be easier , the / 2 , than them to light ? It is tiiflicult to know which to admire most in this couplet—the brilliance of the wit , or the euphony of those three words ' then , than them . ' The same volume also contains a comedy called The Lady and- the Lawyers , which we confess we have not had the courage to examine , having beea utterly daunted by Mit genie . Gethsemttne , and Other Poems . By Thomas Galland Iiorton ( J " udd and Glass ) . —This is a volume of religious verse , rather ieeble and dill use ; but the writer appears to be careful and scholarly , and will no doubt be welcomed by those whom he move especially addresses . Elffinorc , ami Other Poems . By Hamilton Aide ( Chapman and Hall ) . — The first and longest of these productions is a tale of that mysterious and much-persecuted race , the Oagots , and of the first French Revolution . It is sometimes unpleasantly migged and marred with nueotattous of style ; but is often picturesque , junverful , and well felt . Sir J £ dwin Gilderoi / . A Ballad . Hy l ^ eltham Burghley ( John Chapman ) . —The greater part of this book is occupied with an Introductory Essay and ¦ w ith Notes . The story itself is pleasantly told , . after the old ballad manner , though the similarity is rather forced than natural , and is not alwjvys to bo traced . Of The Shadow of the leir , and Other Poe ,, / s , by Nbrmim li . Yonge ( Saunders mid Otley ) , and _ i Summer Day Dream , and Other Poems , by Thutn . ( Idem ) , nothing more can be said than that they belong to the ordinary class of indifferent verses , which present no featured for the critic cither to approve or to condemn .

      Untitled Article

      No : 400 , November 21 , 1857 . 3 T HJE J ^ Aj ^ E K ,. _ ______ \ __ 1123

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Nov. 21, 1857, page 1123, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2218/page/19/