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No. 487. tor 23, -^ THE LEADER. 869 to i...
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THBXIFE AND TIMES OF CHAULES JAMES FOX. ...
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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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Ijdyixs Of Tbe King. By Alfred Tonnysou,...
^ sTfi-rsgrnajas indebted to the Mabinbgian <> f ^ . * lwTdvUs the - spirit of which is reiatroduced into <* ese riy lk j T & term idylls appears to ^ Ve > een cWn ^ n & FST ^ eh ^^ h ^/^^ l blank verse in the recognised epic style . He has nothing of the Miltonic grandeur . ^ yorse ^ re set for 3 the piano , not the organ . Thfe _ id y jls have more of Virgil ' s pastorals than of his ^ neid . To a certain extent this amounts to a considerable disaualification . Mr . Tennyson has no prebut
tensions to the sublimity of the epic muse ; me beauty that lives in nature , and forms the soul , ot the contemplatist—beauty , both spiritual and natural , has stamped Tennyson for her own , and steeps his poems in the atmosphere of sweetness , simplicity , and truth . The idylls contained in this volume amount to four . The first is , perhaps , the most charming , and is likely to become the favourite with the poet ' s admirers . It is entitled " Enid , " the wife of the brave Geraint ; and contains the story of his wooing and his wedding , his jealousy and its cure . The fault of Geraint is . too much love—he loved Enid as he loved the light of Heaven . ' And as the light of Heaven varies , novr At sunrise , now at sunset , now by night ¦ . With moon and trembling- stars , so loved Oreramt Tn makis hnr hfiautv varv day by day ,
In crimsons and in purples and in gems . And Enid , but to please her husband ' s eye , Who first had found and loved her in a state Ofbrokim fortunes , daily fronted him In some fresh splendour -, and the Queen herself Grateful to Prince Geraintfor service done , I , oved her , and often with her own white naaas Array'd and deck'd her , as the loveliest , Next after her owii self , in all the court . We must suppose ^ the reader acquainted with Arthur ' s queen , GuiriSvere , and her misplaced love of Lancelot ; if so , he will not wonder that Geraint should fear the influence of the queen , and wish to remove Iris young , and lovely wife beyond the sphere of her example . He therefore made excuses to the royal Arthur ; and , having gained liis consent , rode forth with his lady and fif ty knights to the shores Of Severn , and they past to their own land ; Whore , thinking-, that if over yet was wtfe True to her lord , mine shall be so to me , He compassed her with sweet observances And worship , never leaving her , and grew Forgetful of his promise to the king , Forg-ctful of tho falcon and the hunt , Forgetful of the tilt and tournament , Forgetful of his elory and his name . Forgetful of his princedom and its cares . And this forgetfulness was hateful -to her . And by and oy the people , when they met In twos and threes , or fuller companies , Began to scoff and jeer and babble of him As of a prince whoso manhood was all gono . And molten down in more uxoriousness . And this she gathered from the people ' s eyes : This too the women who attired her head . To please her , dwelling on his boundless love , Told llnid , and they sadden'd her the more : And day by day she thought to tell Goraint . But could not out of bashful delicacy ; While ho that watoh'd her sadden , was tho more Suspicious that her nature had a taint . At last it chanoed that on n . summer morn ( They sleeping each by other ) the now sun Boat throufflAhc bllndluss casoment of tho room , And heated tho strong warrior in his dronms : Who , moving , oast the coverlet aside , And bared tho knotted column of his throat , Tho massive square of his heroic breast , And nrns on which tho standing , muscle sloped , As slopes a wild brook o ' or-a llttlo stone , Running too vehemently to brtsnk upon it . And Enid wokd and satboalde the couch Admiring him , nnd thought within herself , Was cvor man so grandly made as ho ? Thori , liko a shadow , past tho people ' s talk And accusation of uxoriousness Aoroas Jior mind , and bowing over him . Low to lier own heart pltcouBly . Bho eaiil : " O noble broant and ull-pulssant arms , Am I tlio cause , I tho poor cause that mou , Koprouch you , aaylng all your forco ia gouo ? I am the oauso because I oaro not speak And toll him what I think and what tlioy say . And yot I hate that ho should , linger hero ; I cannot lova my lord and not hla name Far Uovor had I gird his harness on' him , And ildo with him to buttle nnd stand by . And watch his mightful hand striking groat llowa At oaltlflfo nnd at wrongorfl of tho world ; ' Far bottor wore I laid hi tho dark earth , Not hoarlnc any more his noble voice , Not to bo folded more In those dear arms , And darken'd from tho high light in his oyps , Than that my lord thro * mo should auflfor sharao . Am I bo bold , and could I bo etand by , And boo my dear lord wounded In tho atrlfo , Or may bo pierced to death before mine eyes . And yet not daro to toll ulna what X think ,
While these events are passing , Gera convinced himself that his suspicions were unfounded ; and now he is anxious to make atonement . ± ney ride forth together upon the same steed . . Let us look at them awhile in this interesting position" Y / ea , " said Enid , " let us go . " And moving out they found the stately horse , Who now no more a vassal to the thiel . But free to stretch his limbs in lawful fight , Neiffh'd with all gladness aB they came , and stoop d With a low whinny toward the pair : and she . Kiss'd the white star upon his noble front , Glad also ; then Geraint upon the horse Mounted , and reach'd a hand , and on hm foot ^ She set her own and climb'd ; he turn'd hisfaee And kiss'd her climbing , and she cast her arms About him , and at once they rode . away . And never yet , since high in Paradise O ' er the four rivers the first roses blew , Came purer pleasure unto mortal kum Than Iiv'd thro' her , who in that perilous hour Put hand to hand beneath her husband ' s heart , And felt him her ' s again r she did not weep . But o ' er her meek eyes came a happy . mist Like that which kept the heart of Eden green Before the useful trouble of the ram : Yet not so misty were her meek blue eyes As not to see before them on the path , _ Right in the gateway of the bandit hold , A Snight of Arthur ' s court , who laid his lance In rest , and made as if to fall upon him . The knight proves to be Edyrn , son of N " , once rather wild and fast , but now properly reformed in Arthur ' s court ; from whom th ««* therefore now nothing really to dread . By hnn they are conducted to the king hard by ; and the poem concludes in a gentle and fine cadence . The second idyll relates the well known story of Vivien and Merlin , how she beguiled him to tell his secret to her , by which she took him captive , weaving a charm about him , within the four walls of the hollow tower , in the wild woods of Broceliande . Her winning ways are drawn out at great length , and her temptation is conducted with the utmost subtlety . There is a classical beauty in this idyll , which tempers the voluptuousness of the sentiment . There are sections ot it which are delicious . Here , too , is a lyric , which may serve as a sample of many such scattered among these eclogues ;—• In Love , if Love be Love , if love bo ours , Faith and unfaith can ne ' er bo equal powers : Unfaith in aught is want of faith in all . It is the little rift within the luto , That by and by will make tho music mute , And ever widoniug slowly silence all . Tho little rift witliin tho lover ' s luto , Or littlo pitted spook in garnor'd fruit , That rotting inward slowly ropuldors all . It is not worth tho kcopings let it go : But shall it ? answer , darlinff , answer , no . And trust mo not at all or all in all .
mt has And how men slur Mm , saying all his force - Is melted into mere effeminacy ? O me , I fear that I am no true wife . " These last words ' are heard by Geraint as he wakes up , and they are so misinterpreted by him that he believes his worst fears realised . lie therefore bestirs himself , and rides forth with her into the wilderness , where he meets with bandits whom he duly slays , until he himself gets-wounded in the strife ; and the lady in the hall of a former lover is exposed to insult . Geraint is supposed to to be dead ; fortunately however , for her , he is not , but , starting up at the proper moment , he kills the recreant and discourteous Limours . The incidents of this narrative are well-conceived and described , with here and there touches of loveliness and sentiment that are exquisite . . . . .
culated to increase , the reputation of the Poet Laureate , and to raise the taste of the public toward some appreciation of higher forms of poetry than it has recently been satisfied with . The gene < - ral argument is treated as a myth , and , for those who can detect it , a mystical allegory is involved in the general scheme of the King ' s Idylls .
Tho third idyll is entitled " Ehaino , " a maiden who fell in love with Lancelot . But Lancelot , with a heart pre-engaged by the queen , had no room in it for an honest love , and therefore . the maiden , to whom ho was indebted in a great debt of gratitude , was left to pine unloved , until she penshed . This is the outline of tho story ; but there is jnuch of minute and graceful tracery ia the development of it which can find no place in limited columns . In the course of it tho characters of Arthur and
Guinevere are brought out into relief , Tho fourth idyll is devoted to the queen , whoso adulteries have become too notox'ious;—whence both she and the too-courteous Lancelot take to flight . Not till then had tho blameless Arthur suspected her ; but now her guilt is known , ho pursues her to the convent in which she had sought refuge , and of which she afterwards became tho abboss . The king ' s niagnanimous forgiveness of her fault , and her repentance , close the volume gracefully , and leave tho reader ' s mind in a state of pious sentiment . . , There can be no doubt that this volume is cal-
No. 487. Tor 23, -^ The Leader. 869 To I...
No . 487 . tor 23 , - ^ THE LEADER . 869
Thbxife And Times Of Chaules James Fox. ...
THBXIFE AND TIMES OF CHAULES JAMES FOX . By the Right Hon . Lord John Russell , M . F . Vol II . — Richard Bentley-We have again to congratulate the political public on the appearance of a volume of this work , which , though claiming no great credit for its technical authorship , at least puts us in possession of its author ' s state of mind on important political topics , as one of the leading statesmen of our country . If , in the former volume , we had to complain of having more of the times of Fox than of Fox himself , the complaint is intensified in the present—a defect for which , indeed , the noble writer is himself eager to enter an apology . We must await the third volume for the biographical ; the second is devoted to history . _ '
. . It opens with an account of the Coalition Ministry—a ministry little to the liking of the wily king , who regarded the ministers as his " new tyrants , " and treated them with a cold and sullen reserve . They were in a precarious position . The Irish question was of itself a great difficulty ; the Indian was another . Was it expedient to recall Hastings from the government of Bengal ? Lord John looks on Olive and Hastings as the Cortez and Pizarro of our Indian empire ; but if , adds he .
" like the Spanish adventurers , they had a mild and unwarlike race to contend against , they had obstacles to overcome which did not embarrass the conquerors of Mexico and Peru . They had to meet European enemies in the field , and they had to satisfy a corrupt and craving corporation at home . They accomplished both these objects ; they defeated the foreign enemy and bribed the domestic master ; but in doing so they tarnished the croodnameof England . " On the question of
the Indian Bill , Mr . Fox risked and lost his power as a minister . The king was taught to believe by Lord Thurlow and Lord Temple that it involved " a plan to take more than half the royal power , and by that means disable the King for the rest of his reign . " Court intrigue and treachery could be carried no further . Mr . Fox was dismissed from office , and Mr . Pitt succeeded to it . The debates that immediately followed on this transaction turned principally on the unconstitutional use that had been made of his Majesty ' s name ; but Mr . Fox managed the noint weakly and
indiscreetly , and failed to displace his more prudent rival . Mr . Pitt maintained his difficult position with the utmost tact and prudence . In describing the Parliamentary proceedings , Lord John Russell is quite at home . He enters into them and their details with discrimination and animation . It is a panorama in the exhibition of which he triumphs and delights . ' ,, It here falls in the way of Lord John Russell to notice the «? Rolliad , " , as it is more properly called , " Criticisms on the Eolliad ; " the best verses in which were written by Mr . George Ellis . Dr . LawrenceColonel Fitz-Patrick , Richardson , Lord John
, Townshend and Tickell were likewise contributors . Lord John quotes amply from it . The question also of the High Banff of Westminster not having returned the writ is also discussed . Mr . lox made a very eloquent speech on the occasion . Tho whole affair , in Lord' Russell ' s opinion , was discreditable to tho minister , who showed hunseii devoid of magnanimity , and disgraceful to me Crown lawyers , who endeavoured to substitute chicanery for law . The question , too , of tlio sintinafUnd isMKuednt large . Wo « oxt come to Tlibud
the impeachment of AVarren Hastings . o jeet has been exhausted ; a passing «««« l 0 » 13 J " that it demands . Space is also occupied wtti the question of Pnriiamentary Reform , winch was then - ^ ts ^ T ^ roV « rx rtaarts ^ s- sarrg Prince on the subjopt is extant , and one from toe latter in reply . But the Prince was practising on the honest credulity of the statesman , and secretly devisincr tho moans of doing what ho disclaimed . On tho 21 st of Pec ., 1785 , W Fitzhorbert . was married by a protestant clergyman to tho Prince of Wales . Her - uncle , Harry Erangton , hep
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), July 23, 1859, page 17, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_23071859/page/17/
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