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326 THE LEADER. [Satxirday,
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HENFREY'S VEGETATION OF EUROPE. The Vege...
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AN AMERICAN POET. Poems. By Thomas Bucha...
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Mallet 3>Tt Pan. Memoirs And Corresponde...
Piron , ' said some one , ' you take off your ^ hat to Him ? ' ' Oh / replied he , ' we bow , but we are not on speaking terms . '" Here are tvro anecdotes of royal heartlessness , amusing from their very intensity : — t " The Marquis Clauvelin , whilst playing with the King , was seized with apoplexy . Some one exclaimed . : < M . de Chauvelin is ill ! ' The King turnedround and said : ' He is dead : remove him . Spades / & c , " After the death of Madame de Pompadour , her remains were removed to her mansion . The body being gone , the King , half-an-hour af terwards , pulled out his watch , and said : 'If they went fast , they must have arrived . ' ¦ There is a detached fragment among these anecdotes , which we > eannot read over without ever-renewing perception of its ludicrousness . We should premise that JMallet du Pan is quite serious , and has , apparently no suspicion of the want of congruity : — , . "M . de BufFon prefers Milton to all other epic poets . He has his hair curled with irons every day , and at a less advanced age had it twice a day . "
326 The Leader. [Satxirday,
326 THE LEADER . [ Satxirday ,
Henfrey's Vegetation Of Europe. The Vege...
HENFREY'S VEGETATION OF EUROPE . The Vegetation of Europe : its Conditions and its Causes . By Arthur Henfrey , IVL . S . J . Van Voorst . This is the first of a series , the design of which is excellent—a series , namely , of Outlines of the Natural History of Europe—to be composed by men of eminence , and to be " got up" in the elegant style which characterizes Mr . Van Voorst's publications . The Vegetation of Europe has been confided to the competent hands ( Of Mr . Henfrey , whose delightful volume well inaugurates the series . ^ The three first chapters set forth g eneral principles in a lively and intelligible exposition which will allure even the non-botanical ; but in the chapters which follow there is a repulsive profusion of botanical names , which must restrict the circulation of the work . We are aware of the necessity for \~/ t * J l /_ fc 1 VU VUV V * -fc ^/ UXUI VAVX 4 >^* »»* - . w ... v — - ""— > »
^ . . — ™ these details , and see the difficulty of avoiding technicalities j nevertheless , we think , with a little care in using common names instead of the botanical names—or , at any rate , in conjunction with the Latin , —this dry , repulsive aspect would have been altogether avoided . But let us glance at the introductory chapters , which lay down the general principles subsequently illustrated in detail . When , last week , we noted the apparent hopelessness of being able to detect the constant order hidden amidst the multiplicity of varied , lines on a map , we might have referred to the still more confusing multiplicity of detail presented by the vegetable world to the uninstructed eye . Nevertheless , science has found its Ariadne thread even for that labyrinth of species ; although one may say that the thread is only just found . It is not more than half a century since botany became a science ; the differences among the flora ofvarieus countries , and various parts of those countries , were , of course , noticed long ago , being obvious .
" Oranges will ripen on the other side of the Alps , but not on this . For those cereal grains , those corn-plants , furnishing the principal portion of the food of man , we find distinct lines of demarcation extending across Europe , beyond which , northward , each kind ceases to be capable of ripening its seed . Of trees we know that certain kinds will flourish and form fruits at points far north , where others are arrested by the cold ; the firs , for instance , exclusively constitute the most northern woods of Scandinavia , while the dwarf palm , a representative of tropical climates , maintains its footing even so far into the temperate region as Italy and the southern confines of Trance .
"Again , as indeed must be perceptible to every one who has visited mountainous countries , vegetation alters in its characters at different elevations , and it has been shown that these variations correspond to those which are observed on the level plains in proceeding from the south towards the north ; the increased severity of the climate of the higher localities acting exactly in the dame way as the colder climate of the regions lying further from the equator . " At first , it was believed that these differences were owing to the differences of climate , and by climate was simply meant the heat or cold . the facts
But the course of investigation proved that , 1 st , were opposed to the idea of heat or cold being the sole cause ; 2 nd , that climate is not due to mere temperature , but also to humidity , exposure to prevailing winds and general geographical conditions . The laurel , for instance , which lives through the winter in Ireland or the west of England , and is only affected by very severe frosts in tho eastern counties , is kiLled by the winters of Berlin . Canada , which lies south of Pans , has tho climate ot Drontheim in Norway ; while at New York , lying m the latitude of Naples , tho flowers open simultaneously with those of Upsalain bwedon . consider uio ibuuuucub Wi *
Further investigation led men to uuu * wxu ,,, « and physical conditions of tho soil—a subject Professor Way is at present studying , guided by a luminous hypothesis . The result of those inquiries has been to make men " Aware that there is some law presiding over the distribution of plants , which causes tho appearance of particular species arbitrarily , if we may bo say it , in particular places ; and following tho duo which this afford * wo arrive at the conclusion that countries lmvo become populated with plants , partly by tho spreading of some special kinds from centres within those countries where they wore originally excliurively created ; and while these have Bpreacl outward into the neighbouring regions , colonists from liko centres lying in tho surrounding countries have invaded and become intermingled with tho indigenous inhabitants . Tho modes , in which tionsand similar particulars
these processes lmvo gone on , tho details of tho migra , , arc inattcrH yf much debate and diHcusnion , and require groat care m thoir determination ; Imt-it is now generally admitted that such centres of creation do exist , and thus wo have hero , siiloiiy side with tho climatic and other physical inlluoucoH , n second and totally diflbront sot of conditions , which imiHt bo thoroughly niyostiuated boforo wo ciin clearly understand tho manner in which tho vegetable inhabitants of the world lmvo acquired thoir present positions and relations toward each other . When wo lmvo to deal with a groat extent of tho earth » surface , tho phenomena presented by this branch of tho subject are very striking , * " ™ «>™ V So to havo enabled M . Selioiw , one of tho most distinguished geographical botanic , to lay down regions on tho map of tho world , in which particular forms are so predominant as to give a peculiar character to tho vegetation , these peculiarities
not pointing at a difference of climate , but often indicating rather a resemblance where certain tribes of plants axe represented , as it were , by other tribes quite distinct in structure , but agreeing very closely in the habits which place them under the influence of the external physical agencies . " The reflective reader will compare this idea of special centres of creation , and subsequent migrations , with the analogous idea of the distribution of races of men . But we cannot touch on this subjecf , nor oh that , indicated in this passage : — " " Professor Schouw has attempted to deduce evidence of the comparative age of the existing floras' -from- the relation of the character of their species to those of fossil floras , of which the comparative antiquity has been pretty certainly
determined . In tracing the changes which have taken place in the constituents of the vegetation of different geological periods , it appears as if the plants of successive formations assumed higher types of organization as they were successively created ; the earliest plants of which fossil remains have been found , seem to have been seaweeds and cellular plants j after these came the higher Cryptogamous plants , such as Ferns and their allies , with Conifers and Monocotyledons ; the Apetalous Dicotyledons seem to have preceded the Polypetalous families , and the Monopetalous families are but sparingly represented until we come to existing forms . " We have only to recommend the volume as a lively and suggestive contribution to our natural history . The next volume of the series is to be a Natural History of the European Seas , by Professor E . Forbes .
An American Poet. Poems. By Thomas Bucha...
AN AMERICAN POET . Poems . By Thomas Buchanan Read . Illustrated by Kenny Meadows . J 3 > elf andTriibner . A note of music always delights the ear . No matter how humble the strain , how modest the pretensions of the musician , the genuine melody steals into your heart , and nestles there welcome . One man shall smite the sounding chords with magnificent intentions , he shall stun you with the multiplied orchestral din of his pretensions , but you pertinaciously the with which he
avoid him , and the chorus of "Opinions of Press , " hopes to overpower your reluctant mind ; while a modest little song shall murmur in your ear until you turn to look upon the -singer .- Buchanan Read was a name unknown to us ; his little volume has made it a pleasant name ; and we announce it to you as the name of a young poet worth looking after . A small grey volume , among a mass of volumes , bearing the ominous title , Poems , would with difficultyhave lured an over-worked reviewer , had not a casual glance satisfied him that there was something more than verse , there was actual music in the volume , the second page of which contained these lines— - " The inuffled owl within the swaying elm Thrills all the air with sadness as he swings , Till sorrow seems to spread her shadowy realm " - About all outward things . . , " And when old Winter through his fingers numb Blows till his breathings on the windows gleain ; And when the mill-wheel spiked with ice is dumb Within the neighbouring stream . " And there is something more . There is poetry—the poetry of Youth and Hope . Buchanan Bead—as we imagine from this volume—is still on the threshold of life , which stretches smilingly before him , —is still strong in all the eager hopes and impulses of youth , and sings from the very not oi his blood . He sings of Love , of Nature , of Beauty , and of Youth ; and he sings of them lovingly , joyously , as one whom sorrow has not hurt , He tells us , indeed , that N " He wearies of the harp whose strings Are never tuned to grief . " But that weariness is only a dread of monotony , not a sympathy with grief itself . Sorrow he knows not in its deep impassioned forms ; it has visited him , and vanished like the tears of childhood , quiek-glancmg as tho changing hues of a dove's neck , hinting at experiences , never giving them . And so his volume is a dulcet hymn ; gentle and sweet , not passionate and grand . - It echoos melodies wo have all heard before , but minglos with them a certain music of its own . In proof of what we say , hear this : — « ' Down behind the hidden village , fringed around with hazel brake , ( Liko a holy hermit dreaming , half aalcop and half awake , Oho who lo ' vcth tho sweet quiet for the happy quiet ' s sako , ) Dozing , murmuring in its visions , lay tho heaven-enamoured lake . " And within a dell , where shadows through tho brightest days abide , Liko the silvery swimming gossamer by breezes scattered wide , Fell a shining skein of water that ran down tho lakelet ' s side , Ab within tho brain by beauty lulled , a pleasant thought may glide . " When tho sinking sun of August , growing large in the decline , Shot his arrows long and golden through tho maple and tho pine ; And the russet-thrush nod singing from tho alder to tho vino , Whilo tho cat-bird in tho hazel gavo its melancholy whine ; " And tho little squirrel chattered , peering round tho hickory bole , And , a-suddon , liko a meteor , gleamed along tho oriole;—There . 1 walked bosido fair Inez , and her gentle beauty stole Liko tho scone athwart my senses , liko tho sunshine through my soul . " And hor fairy feet that pressed tho loayos , n pleasant music made , And they dimpled the swcot beds of moss with blossoms thick inlaid :- — There I told hor old romances ,, and with love ' s sweet woe wo played , Till fair Inez' oyoH , liko evening , hold the dew beneath their shade . " There I wove for her love ballads , such an lovor only weaves , Till she sighed and grioved , as only mild and loving maiden grieves ; And to hido hor tears sho stooped to glean tho violets from tho leave * , As of old sweob Ituth went gleaning ' mid the oriental Bhoavoa . " Down wo walked bosido tho lakolot : —gazing deep into hor oyo , There I told hor all my passion ! With a sudden blush ond nigh , Turning half away Avith look askant , hIio only made reply , ' How deep within tho water glows tho happy evening sky !'
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), April 3, 1852, page 18, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_03041852/page/18/
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