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Northern Star (1837-1852), 11th September 1852, Edition 2 of 2, Page 13

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      ;Isbftembbk 11,1852. The Star Of Freedom...

      ; iSbftembbk 11 , 1852 . THE STAR OF FREEDOM . 77

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      Reviews. L'Iasa'asa Guidi Windows.—A Poe...

      REVIEWS . L'IasA ' asa Guidi Windows . —A Poem , by Elizabeth Barrett Br Browning . WirEfnEX in the majestic presence of any of Nature ' s marvellous nrorfrorks , whether looking up to the sublime old mountain that iiiftsifts its silent peak into the face of heaven , or on the ocean f ehevhen it is clothed in the terrors of the tempest , or the beauty . if itf its summer-calm—or standing in the starry midnight as in rood ' s own presence-chamber , we do not criticise , Ave are lost in iiWhnhation . It is with a kindred feeling we approach the works )> f M Mrs . Barrett Browning . We feel that praise will be

      super-Uuoluous , and criticism impertinent . We look up to her as the trran-eatest female writer of grand and melodious poetry the world llasias ever produced . A glorious singer , large in heart and brain ! Wetfext to Tennyson , she is the noblest of our living Poets , and Imiuij second to him , because less an artist . She has the seer ' s wisvision and faculty divine , in its highest and clearest manifesta-Itioition : a soul running over with beauty luxuriantly , as a sumnnemer-eve brimming over with sun-set , and a heart that warbles lintinto song as naturally as rich notes gush from a sky-lark , and frafraf > rance comes from a rose . She has an imagination clothed inin ldi the glory and tearful splendour of the rainbow . Her pa pathos pierces deep as human tenderness , and she is wondrously leileamed in the exquisite lore of love .

      In the Poem under notice we find her with richer experiences , ai and a firmer grasp of life . " Casa Guidi Windows" has a noble pi purpose , as , in this her latest and wisest work , the Poetess c < comes forth as the Champion of Freedom and Italy , and well d does she wrestle with Wrong and Tyranny . * The poem is of I Italy , sunny Italy ! the land of the glorious but fatal dower of I beauty . The loved and lovely Italy , with its peerless wealth t of Genius , its palace-home of Art , and its proud array of mart tyrs . Italy ! so full of startling memories and throbbing hopes . 1 Finely does she bewail the broken hopes of ' 48 , and paint the

      red sun-rise of retribution which will yet roll up the sky of the Future . Mrs . Browning resided in Florence during the revolutionary struggle , and was with the Italians in spirit . She fought for them then with all her soul and sympathies . She fights their battle now and for ever , with all the fiery tbree of her roused genius in verse , that beats and bums , with the living pulses of reality . She has dipped her pen in her heart , and her pencil in the hues of her own life-blood , and the result is a yoem that goes heart-home as an arrow . Here is some cutting sarcasm shot at Italian bravado . It is intensely bitter , but

      wholesome . "How grown men raged at Austria ' s wielcedness , And smoked , —while fifty striplings in a row Marched straight to Piedmont for the wrong ' s redress Who says we failed in duty , we Avho wore Black velvet like Italian democrats ,

      Who slashed our sleeves like patriots , nor forswore The true republic in the form of hats ? We chased the archbishop from the duomo door—We chalked the walls with bloody caveats Against all tyrants . ' If ice did not fight Exactly , tee fired muskets up tlie void , To show that victory was ours of right . We met , discussed in every place , self-bouyed Except , perhaps , 'i the chambers day and night : We proved that all the poor should he employed , And yet the rich not worked for anywise , — Payers ' eertified , yet payers abrogated , Full work secured , yet liabilities To overwork excluded , —not one bated

      Of all our holidays , that still at twice Or thrice a-week , are moderately rated . We , proved tliat Austria v ; as dislodged , or would Or should he , and that Tuscany in arms Should , would , dislodge her , in high hardihood ! And yet , to leave our piazzas , shops , and farms , For the ? jare sake of lighting , was not good . We proved that also , — ' Did we cany charms Against being killed ourselves , that we should rush On lulling others ? What , desert herewith Our wives and mothers ' . —was that duty ? Tush !' At which we shook the sword within the sheath , Like heroes—only louder ! and the flush Ran up our cheeks to meet the victor ' s wreath .

      Xay , what we proved , we shouted—how Ave shouted , ( Especially the little hoys did ) planting That tree of liberty whose fruit is doubted Because the roots are not of nature ' s granting A tree of good and evil ! -none , without it Grow gods!—alas , and , with it , men were wanting . " The foolish and fickle people after driving out the Grand-Duke and doing nothing , begin to cry for him to come back , and return he does , to crush them into a deeper slavery with the aid of Austria .

      " Then , gazing , I beheld the long-drawn street Line out , from end to end , full in the sun , With Austria ' s thousands . Sword and bayonet , Horse , foot , artillery—cannons rolling on . The kev , O Tuscans , too well fits the wards ! Ye asked for mines ; these bring yon tragedies—For purple-, these shall wear it as your lords . Ye played like children : die like innocents ! Ye mimicked lightnings with a torch : the crack Of the actual bolt , your pastime , circumvents . Ye called up ghosts , believing : they were slack To follow any voice from Gilboa ' s tents , Here's 3 A 3 IUEL;—AXD , SO , GKAXD-I > UKE \< 3 COME BACK ! And yet they are no prophets tho' they come . That awful mantle they are drawing close ,

      Shall be searched , one day , hy the shafts oi Doom , Through double fold now hoodwinking the brows . Resuscitated monarchs disentomb Grave-reptiles with them , iu their ucai' life-throes : Let such beware . Behold the people waits Like God . As He , in His serene of might , So they , in their endurance of long straits . Ye stamp no nation out tho' day ami night Ye tread them with that absolute heels which grates And grinds them flat from all attempted height . You kill worms sooner with a garden spade Than you kill peoples : peoples will not die ; 'Tis hard to shrivel back a day of God ' s Once fix'd for judgment : 'tis as hard to change beneath their loads

      The people ' s , when thev rise And heave them from their backs with violent wrench , To crush the oppressor . For that judgment rod ' s The measure of this popular revenge . " m Here is some beautiful writing which rises into the sub lime— " In the name of Italy Meaniime . her patriot dead have henizon !

      They only have done well : and what they did Being perfect , it shall triumph . Let them slumber , Xo king of Egypt in a pyramid Is safer from oblivion , though he number Full seventy cerements for a coverlid . These dead he seeds of life , and shall encumber The sad heart of the land until it loose The clammy clods and let out the spring-growth In beatific green thro' every bruise . The Tyrant should take heed to what he doth , Since every victim-carrion turns to use , And drives a chariot like a god made wroth , Against each piled injustice . Ay , the least

      Reviews. L'Iasa'asa Guidi Windows.—A Poe...

      Dead for Italia , not in vain hath died . Of thanks , he , therefore , no one of these forlorn graves Not Hers—who , at her husband ' s side , in scorn , Out-faced the whistling shot and hissing waves Until she felt her little babe unborn ' Recoil within her , from the violent staves And blood-hounds of the world : at which , her life Dropt inwards from her eyes , and followed it Beyond the hunters . G-AWBALDl ' S wife ( And child died so . Perhaps , ere dying thus , She looked up in his face which never stirred From its clenched anguish , as if to make excuse For leaving him for his , if so she erred . Well he remembers that she could not choose . "

      With the sweetest womanly tenderness , Mrs . Browning combines the finest masculine vigour . What can be loftier , or grander , than the following soul-stirring out-burst on that false " peace , " which they call for , who mean & w armistice to give them leisure to put the wounded to death . What withering , annihilating scorn for the peace-mongering hypocrites it breathes ; and what glorious poetry it is ! " A cry is up in England , which doth ring The hollow world through , that for ends of trade And virtue , and God ' s better worshipping ,

      We henceforth should exalt the name of Peace , And leave those rusty wars that eat the soul—( Besides their clippings at our golden fleece ) . I , too , have loved peace , ami from hole to hole Of immemorial , undeciduous trees , Would write , as lovers use , upon a scroll The holy name of Peace , and set it high Where none should pluck it down . On trees , 1 say , Not upon gibbets !~ With the greenery Of dewy branches and the flowery Mar , Sweet mediation 'twixt the earth and sky , Providing , for the shepherd ' s holiday ! Not upon gibbets!—though the vulture leaves Some quiet to the bones he first picked bare .

      Not upon dungeons ! though the wretch who grieves And groans within , stirs not the outer air As much as little field-mice stir the sheaves . Not upon chain-bolts ! though the slave's despair Has dulled his helpless , miserable brain , And left him blank beneath the freeman ' s whip , To sing and laugh out idiocies of pain . Nor yet on starving homes ! whore many a lip Has sobbed itself to sleep through curses vain ! I love no peace which is not fellowship , And which includes not mercy . I would have , Rather , the raking of the guns across

      The world , and shrieks against Heaven ' s architrave . Bather , the struggle in the slippery fosse , Of dying men and horses , and the wave Blood-bubbling Enough said !—By Christ ' s own cross , And hy the faint heart of my womanhood , Such things are better than a Peace which sits Beside the hearth in self-contented mood , And takes no thought how wind and rain by fits Are howling out of doors against the good Of the poor wanderer . What ! your peace admits Of outside anguish while it sits at home ? I loathe to take its name upon my

      tongue-It is no peace . 'Tis treason , stiff with doom , — 'Tis gagged despair , and inarticulate wrong , Annihilated Poland , stifled Rome , Dazed Naples , Hungary fainting ' neath the thong , And Austria wearing a smooth olive-leaf On her brute forehead , while her hoofs outpress The life from these Italian souls , in brief . 0 Lord of Peace , who art Lord of Righteousness , Constrain the anguished world from sin and grief , Pierce them with conscience , purge them with redress And give us peace which is no counterfeit !' " &

      Austrian Banditti . —The Vienna journals contain an account of a very horrible affair : " A peasant of Gralician Podolia went ten days ago to the fair of Zharaz to sell a pair of oxen . On his return , having been drinking rather too much , he placed his money in a girdle , which he fastened round the body of his daughter , who accompanied him . On passing through a wood a man stopped them and imperatively demanded their money or their lives . The peasant declared that he had no money on him ; but the man , knowing that he had sold his oxen , seized him by the hair , and dragged him a little way into

      the wood . There two other men joined him , and the three mur dered the unfortunate man . The girl distinctly saw the crime perpetrated . Greatly terrified she took to flight , and after proceeding some distance saw a cottage . She rushed into it , and found a woman . She told the woman what had occurred , and said that she had the money on her . This money the woman took and fastened in a drawer , and in compliance with the prayer of the girl placed her in a bedroom for safety . After a while three men entered the cottage—they were those who had committed the murder . One of them was the woman ' s husband .

      They told her that they had killed the man , and that they had been dreadfully disappointed on finding no money on him . The woman , with a loud laugh , produced the belt , and told them that the girl who had confided it to her was in the next room . The murderers manifested great joy at the sight of the cash . But after a while they reflected that the girl might denounce them , and they deliberated as to what they should do with her . The poor creature distinctly heard all they said . They determined to kill her , and that no trace of the crime might ' remain ,

      resolved to burn her to death in the oven . They proceeded at once to light the oven , and in a short time the poor girl heard the flames crackling . Driven to desperation , she looked about for means of escape . Fortunately she ascertained that the wall was only of clay , and she was able to make a hole in it large enough to cru'ep through . She escaped , and after proceeding some distance met two gendarmes . To them she related what had occurred . They proceeded at once io the cottage , and arrested the three murderers and the woman .

      Improved Public Ommbus.—On Wednesday Muc...

      Improved Public Ommbus . —On Wednesday much interest was excited in Great Scotland-yard by the appearance of a very lWit and tastefully constructed vehicle for public conveyance , Which had been brought to the spot for the inspection oi Commissioner Sir E . Mayne and other gentlemen previous to its proceeding on an experimental trip with the inventor , Mr . Franklinski and friends . The examination showed the great

      conveniences and comfort in its construction , there being a se parate compartment for each passenger about thirty inches in width ( 14 inches wider than in the ordinary omnibus ) , thus affording also an effectual bar against the pick-pocket or other annoyances , but at the same time giving the power of communication between each compartment when desirable . Each is lined with crimson cloth , fitted with looking-glasses

      and effective ventilating apparatus , as also the means ot communicating with the conductor by a bell . This portion _ is arranged for 12 passengers , and the approach is by an outside gallery on either side , with a separate door to each compartment . The ascent to the roof is by a flight of steps of easy gradation , with a hand-rail on each side , placed at the back of the carriage . It bears the inscription of " Franklinski ' s Patent Conveyance , " but is a great improvement on that exhibited in the Crystal Palace , particularly in respect to lightness , for although about 6 inches higher ' and nearly 4 inches wider than the ordinary omnibus , it is 2 cwt . lighter .

      Houses For California.—Bending Sheet Iro...

      Houses for California . —Bending sheet iron into flutes or hollows is new way of constructing portable houses for California , if you choose to go there . California ? What ^ the tubular principle , the Fairbairn hollowness , the plate and rivet , going to California ? Even so . It is now almost as easy to go to the diggings with an iron house to your back , as to go to Alabama with a banjo on your knee . The Eagle Foundry at Manchester will tell us all about this corrugated iron . In I 84 t \ iron houses for California began to be made at those works . One such house was twenty feet long by ten wide ; it comprised a sitting-room and a bedroom , one outer and one inner

      door , and a window to each room . The walls and root were formed of sheet iron , only one-eighth of an inch in thickness , in sheets sixty inches by thirty . The upright supports were oi hollow rolled iron filled up with wood ; the doors had frames ? f bar-iron , with panels of sheet-iron , aud the window shutters were similarly constructed . Every sheet , and every bit of angle-iron and T-iron and bolt and rivet , were numbered ^ so that three or four men could put up the house in three or four days ; and thus was a fifty pound house built in a Manchester

      factory in a week , and neatly packed up ship-wise to the lar west . Another iron house for California was of loftier preten tion—and if it ever come to tha hammer of a Calitbrnian auc tionecr , he will doubtless describe it in his advertisement as " a spacious detached residence , capable of accommodating a family of distinction "—it was twenty-seven feet long by twenty-two wide ; was two stores high , and ha . I eight rooms ; but still its walls and roofs were mere sheet-iron . —Dichem ' s " Household

      Words . " Chakgb of Fortune —A private in the 4 th Light Dragoons has lately become entitled to about half-a-iaillion of money . A Story of Fortune . —A young man who left Paisley about three years ago , to push his fortune in Australia , has within these few days returned home . On entering his mother ' s dwelling he found her engaged winding weft on weaver ' s pirns . After mutual greetings on the happy meeting , the son told his mother to cast by her pirn-wheel . u Na , na , Jamie , " said she , " I'll no cast by my pirn-wheel till I ken o ' something better . " " Weel , " said Jamie , " look at this , " at the same time producing a bank cheque for £ 10 , 000 , the produce of his industry at the Australian gold diggings .

      Essex Calves . —Chelmsford seems resolved to emerge into notoriety . A popular definition asserts that dirt is , a good thing in a wrong place , —and it Avould seem as if every good thing or good idea which has the misfortune to wander into the twin-capital of Essex must , by getting into that decidedly wrong place , become mere dirt . Baily ' s statue of Chief Justice Tindal was a very good tiling before it was mounted on the town pump . International communication was a good idea before it found its way into Chelmsford . But the old ladies and gentlemen of that town—with the facility for practical blunders which our readers have so frequently been called on to admire

      —have contrived to cover this respectable principle with ridicule . Warmed by some tardy remembrance of the amenitiesgenerous and cordial on both sides of the Channel—which passed between the people of London and the citizens of Paris in 1848 , when France was a free country , and the inhabitants of the two capitals could speak their sentiments with equal unreserve , — Chelmsford , after turning the subject over in its own slow mind for four years or so , has at this late period and

      unseasonable season finally bethought itself of taking its own modest share in those pleasant interchanges of national courtesy . Searching on the map for a town of something like its own degree of importance , it has ultimately fallen upon Caen—probably selecting its correspondent on the principle made famous by Fluellen , of the initial letter common to each . Having chosen Caen for their especial correspondent , —the men of Chelmsford , forgetful of all the indifferences of time and

      events , proceed to indite to it a letter of peace , congratulation , and benediction . Fancy the Napoleonic mayor of Caen smirk ing over this simple epistle , and inditing an answer in formal phrase , in which he assures his correspondents of his profound consideration for the burgesses of Chelmsford ! These Essex friends of ours have , we repeat , a capacity for doing the right thing at the wrong time—for putting a good thing in a bad place—which amounts to a sort of genius . They are the men to have congratulated Silvio Pellico on the success of his poems , after those poems had procured him a dungeon in Spielberg . — Athencemn .

      Diumam . ~ The Springfield ( Illinois ) Begisier relates the following— " In March , last , three men in this city agreed to drink themselves to death . The first died in April , the second in May . The survivor on the happening of the last event , showed symptoms of breaking the compact , and he kept sober two or three days afterwards , but honour revived , and he died

      m June . Tins is literally true . " A Moxstkr Ship . —It is in contemplation by one of the most , eminent and enterprising of Liverpool merchants , to build an i iron screw sfcam-ship of ten thousand tons burthen for the \ American trade . General Paoiieco . —We are sorry to learn that the cele- ¦• brated South American General Pacheco , who is known as the e founder of liberty in the Uruguay , and who recently occupied d

      the distinguished post of ambassador at Paris from that republic , I , was , on his return to the scene of his patriotism , attacked by a a violent vellow fever , at Rio Janeiro .

      Guide To The Lecture Room. Literary Inst...

      GUIDE TO THE LECTURE ROOM . Literary Institution , John Street , Fitzroy Square . Friday evenings [ 8 ] [ 8 ] a Discussion . Sept 12 tli [ 7 £ ] , IYt :. < r l / . vhigslcnu , ' Emigration in Cwmee-. ee- ¦ tion with the Gold Regions of the Earth . ' Hall of Science , City Road . —Sept . 12 th [ 7 JJ , Henry Tyrrell , ' Wisdom andwiul and Genius of Shakspere . ' National Hall , 242 , High Ilolborn . —Sept . 12 th , [ 7 *] , P . W . Perfitt , willwilll Lecture . South London Hall , Webber Street , Blackfrhtrs Road . —Sept . 5 th , \ 1 % \ 1 % Charles Southwell will Lecture . Sadler ' s Wells Discussion Society , three doors from the Hugh Myddeltonltoni —Sept . 2 nd [ 85 ] , Discussion . East London Literary Institution , Bethnal Green . —Sept . 6 th , fS ] , Mi Mn Tavlor . ' Punch , and its Writers . '

      "" Areopagus Coffee and Reading Room , 59 , Church Lane , Whiteehapel .-iel . — Every Sunday , Monday , and Wednesday ( S ) , a Lecture or Discussion . Uoxton Mutual Instruction Society , 13 , Gloucester Terrace . —Sept . 6 , [ 83 , [ 8 ^ Mr . W . T . Matson , ' Shakspcre . ' Commercial Hall , Philpot Street , Commercial Road , East . —Sept . 12 fl 12 tl : l [ 11 a . m . ] , Charles Southwell will lecture . —Theological Discussions evereverr Sunday evening [ 7 ] , Tuesday [ 8 ] , Thursday [ 8 ] , and Saturday [ 8 ] . Democratic Mutual Instruction Society , White Horse , Hare StrecStreee Bcthnal Green . Lectures and Discussions every Sunday evening . St . Ann ' s Young Men ' s Total Abstinence Society , at the Eclectic Institufctitutit Denmark Street , Soho , every Monday evening [ Si . "

      Social Institution , Charles Street , Old Garratt , Manchester . —Sept . 12 t . 122 [ 11 a . m . ] , a Lecture . Progressionist Hall , Cheapside , Leeds . —Sept . 12 th [ 6 £ ] , a Lecture . Eclectic Institute , 14 , Garthland Street , Glasgow . —Sept . 12 th [ 7 $ 1 Mil ** Scott , < Confessions of a Roman Catholic '

  • Citation
    • Northern Star (1837-1852), Sept. 11, 1852, page 13, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ns/issues/ns2_11091852/page/13/