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December 8, 1855] THE LEADER. 1183
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PICTUKKS OK CUBA. Pictures of Cuba. V.y ...
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Transcript
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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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Browninct's Men And Women. Men And Women...
; To the breathless fellow at the altar-foot , Fresh from , his murder , safe and sitting there With the little children round him in a row Of admiration , half for his beard and half For that white anger of his victim ' s son Shaking a fist at him with one fierce arm , Signing himself with the other because of Christ ( "Whose sad face on the cross sees only this After the passion of a thousand years ) Till some poor girl , her apron o ' er her head Which the intense eyes looked through , came at eve On tip-toe , said a word , dropped in a loaf , Her pair of ear-ring * and a bunch of flowers The brute took growling , prayed , and then was gone . I painted all , then cried " 'Tis ask and have—Choose , for more ' s ready ! "—laid the ladder flat , And showed ray covered bit of cloister-wall . The monks closed in a circle and praised loud Till checked ( taught what to pee and not to see , Being simple bodies ) , " that ' s the very man ! Look at the boy who stoops to pat the dog ! That woman ' s like the Prior ' s niece who conies To care about his asthma .: it ' s the life ! " But there my triumph ' s straw-fire flared and funked- — Their betters took their turn to pee and say : The Prior and the learned pulled a face And stopped all that in no time . " How ? what ' s hero ? Quite from the mark of painting , bless us all ! Faces , arms , legs and bodies like the true As much as pea and pea ! it ' s devil ' s-gameJ Your business is not to catch men with show , With homage to the jwrishable clay , But lift them over it , ignore it all , Make them forget there ' s such a thing as flesh . Your business is to pnint the souls of men—Man ' s soul , and it ' s afire , smoke . . no it ' s not . . It ' s vapour done up like a new-born babe—( In that shape when you die it leaves your mouth ) It ' s . . well , what matters tal ing , it's the soul ! Give us no more of body than phowa soul . Here ' s Giotto , with his Saint a-praising God ! _ That sets you praising—why not stop with hi in 'I . Why put all thoughts of t raise out of our heads With wonder at lines , colour * , and what not ? Paint the s > ul , never mind the legs and arms ! Rub all out , try ; it it a second time . Oh , th ; it wliite ' Vmn . llisli female with the breasts , She's just my niece . . Herodias , 1 would ; wy , — Who went nnd danced and got men ' s heads cut oft '— - Have it all out ' . " Now , is this sense , I ask ? A . fine way to pnint soul , by painting body So ill , tho ' cyo can't stop tlviv , must go further And can ' t fiiro worao ! Thus , yollow docs for whit-. * When what you put for yellow ' s simply black , And any norb of i ) n > rmincf looks inteiiBe When all beside itself means and looks nought . AVhy can't a pnintor lift each foot in turn , Left foot and right foot , go a double step , Make his flesh liker and his soul moro like , Both in their order ! T ; ike tho prettiest face , The prior ' s niouo . . patron-saint—is it no pretty You can't discover if it menus , hope , fear , Sorrow or joy ? won't beauty go with these ? Suppose I ' ve made her o . yen all right and blue , Can't I take breath and try to add life ' s flash . And then add soul and heighten them threefold ? Or say thero ' fl beauty with no soul at all — ( I never saw it— -put tho case tho same—) If you qot shnplo beauty and nought oIho , You get about tho bent thing Ciod invents—That ' s Bomowhat . . ,. In tho argumentative stylo , there is tlmt strange , sarcastic , puzzling ' , because dramatic : poem , called "Bishop Hlousrrnn / s Apolouy ; " and charming it is to turn from such dramatic goings out of himself , to the direct and beautiful expression of his love f « r his wife , which sniiles with deep ami quiet tenderness in manv a pnpre . I" the following pnssnRe , for cxainple , how true and pretty is the allusirn to l » is wife ' s poeticnl fame and his delight in it . ( We t . iustpn-misc , tlmt the phn . su , " My moon of poets , " is an allusion to something which lists been said in an earlier passage oi the poem ) — CJo . l 1 ) 0 thiinkod , tin ) moiincut of hi * orouturort Boast * two MimlVidoH ; ono to fiu ; o tho world with , Ono to iiliow a woman when he loves her . Thin 1 « ay of tun , but think of you , Love ! Thin Lo you yourrfolf , my moon of poets ! Ah , Vnt ' tlial ' n tho world ' s sido thoro ' n tho wondor—ThuH ( hoy i- > c « o you . pmi-o yon , think they know yon . Thfiro , in ' turn I Htnnd with thent nnd prnino yon , Out of my own i-iolf , I dun' to phrnso it . But Ilio best in wlxm I p lido from out thoni , Cross ii Htn ] i or two of dubioiiH twilight , (' oine out on tho other sido , tho novcil Silent nilvor lights nnd darku uiidnin . intid of , Whoro 1 lm .-di and IUih .-i inyt-uilf with idlonoo . Tina does not , of course , road so well iu extract iih it does in its own place ; but that is ( 1 m inconvenience attending newspaper criticism ; one vim onlv K » ve " specimen bricks , " which are not true specimen * . Hie be » t parts of thcao volumes am beyond quotation limits . To conclude , we will give another story in two short poems— " Hefort ; '' and " After : — HHKOllM . Lo ' , thorn fight it out , friend 1 tiring havo gono too fur . Clod nuiHtjndgo tho oouplo ! lwvo thmn an thoy arc — Whiohovor oiio ' h tho guilfcloHK , to bin glory , And whiohover ono tho miilt ' H with , to my story .
Why , you would not bid men , sunk in such a slough , Strike no arm out further , stick and stink as now , Leaving right and wrong to settle the embroilment , Heaven with snaky Hell , in torture and entoilment ? Which of them ' s the culprit , how must he conceive God ' s the queen he caps to , laughing in his sleeve ? 'Tis but decent to profess oneself beneath her . Still one must not be too much in earnest either . Better sin the whole pin , sure that God observes , Then go live his life out ! life will try his nerves , When the sky which noticed all , makes no disclosure , And the earth keeps up her terrible composure . Let him pace at pleasure , past the walls of rose , Pluck their fruits when grape-trees graze him aa he goes . For he 'gins to guess the purpose of the garden , With the sly mute thing beside there for a warden . What ' s the leopard-dog thing , constant to . his side , A leer and lie in every eye on its obsequious hide' ! When will conic an end of all the mock obeisance , And tho price appear that pays for the misfeasance ? So much for the culprit . Who's the martyred man ' ! Let him bear one stroke more , for be sure he can . He that strove thus evil's Inni 2 > with good to leaven , Let him give his blood at last and get his heaven . All or nothing , stake it ! trusts he God or no 'i Thus far and no farther ' . farther ? bo it so . Now , enough of your chicane of prudent pauses , Sage provisos , sub-intents , and saving-clauses . Ah , " forgive" you bid him ? While Clod ' s champion lives , Wrong shall bo resisted : dead , why he forgives . Iiu you must not end my friend ere yon begin him ; Evil stands not crowned on earth , while breath in in him . Once more—Will the wronger , at this last of all , Dare to say "I did wrong , " rising in his fall ? No ?—Let go then—both the fighters to their places—While I count three , step yon back as runny pace * . AFTER . Take the cloak from his face , and atfirst Let tho corpse do its worst . How he lies in his rights of a man ! Death . Iwh done all death can . And absorbed in the new life ho le . ui . s He recks not , he hoods . ISTor his wrong nor my vengeance—both striko On his ttonses alike , And arc lost in tho solemn and stniugo Surprise of tho chango . Jin , what avail death to erase Him oH ' unec , my disgrace ' ¦ I would we were boys us of old In tho field , by the fold - ¦¦ HiK outrage , doil ' s patimioo , mini ' s ucom Were no easily borne . I stand hero now , he lion in bis place—Cover tho face . If these specimens send the reader to the volumes they have fulfilled their purpose .
December 8, 1855] The Leader. 1183
December 8 , 1855 ] THE LEADER . 1183
Pictukks Ok Cuba. Pictures Of Cuba. V.Y ...
PICTUKKS OK CUBA . Pictures of Cuba . V . y William II . Ilurl \> ut . Longman . TmtiiK is no country in the world that is more lovely than Cuba ; it is as beautiful as Polynesia , only , from its extent , it presents a reater ^ ar cty than any of the islands of the mid Pacific . It 1 ms mountains ! W ° W to vary the hori . on , and the rich tropical foliage clothes the whole ,-hrnd m beauty . The summer , although oppressive , has not the . ere >» ^""^ J continental summers ; the winter is no winter at all , hut only n sun r . ler ot serene delight » In a fertile land , such a Hiniatc neeessanly «« * ' £ «*¦ fcroatlv to the enjoyment of existent ; the an- is « . ll of a . soft del . ou fvnrmth , which renders life itself a pleasure and the sk . es are tho « noHt heoutiful in the world . 'I he moon shines placid and pnre in the nioBt « P ™! clouds ; and so steadfast is the climate , that . , 1 may be trust ; ed I' ^ atricd fried . It seldom happens that a land and atmosphere so dchcH » »; « 1 h to enervate the residents , and we ,,, i l . t have expeeU-d to l . n . l ^» 'hit lie ounK » K pla « -e of America , even if Spanish institutions hud not como in to " ^ ' ^ Lorvntion and eorruption more complete , and m iaet to » 7 ^« ^ mipUott « M , t- « l « itself . Life ill Cuba , as it is described by one oi he 1 test v . Mtants Mr . Ilurlhut , is about midway between that ol M > 1 < : « »»<» I »> '' «• All ^ P J in ., of Havana is a Moorish palace , and you . m l . t count apon enjoyn R existence , with all its best accessories , if it were not lor the people . I lie interior of this Moorish pahu-e combines « he discomforts oi a j man l , onrdiii -hniiH « -, will , the , expensivei . ess of a 1 ond-street hotel . A J ' »» to oneself is u luxury almost unknown , nnd the , traveller 8 , u : inlH t . h » dreadful proximity to a companion nhom he ha , not ahvaysi jl «^ y of choosing . The social routine of the people is oi an v »» y ' < « ^ | > llt under ^<>»» res . raints . Numberless ,,, r u J V » ' „ || ll > rUicH . He ia Cuba must not do , or it would compromise him "'"' " , conversation inny talk if ho is very sure of his com | mnio » s ; mil . < i ,,, Ntlin | , a , its risks . There is , indeed , ph-niy of " >^(^ . \ * ( , , utes ; there work in the rcen environs ; there ih h / e and M . » I ¦ « - ^ K , th < j is the free Indl-f ^ ht in the IMnxu d « 'I JJJ i , ^ , , , ^; ' ,, | ie people . railway ad < l « forvour an . l speed to the crunto n « > ovtn j t ^ i ^ , „ srsis rnt ;^;^ ar z »« ^ : ^<^
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Dec. 8, 1855, page 19, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_08121855/page/19/
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