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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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coke ' s bidk over the rocky mountains . ^» : ^ W £ tftt Wiff fi £ ffSfa Honourable Henry J . Coke . iienuey . The Honourable Henry Coke must disabuse his mind of two prepossessions ere he again take ' s up the pen , if he wish to take it up with success ; and those two are , first , that he has any ; natural ftpfr tudefor gay and sparkling composition ; second , that to make books effective a writer should dress up for " effect . " Mr . Kinglake ' s Eotken has misled many writers of travels . After Byron , no man aspired to the glory of a poetic soul unless he turned down his collars and despised mankind ; after JEotken , no man ventures to narrate his travels unless he can be facetious and sarcastic .
Mr . Coke has performed a journey such jas , half a century ago , would have made him a considerable lion ; and the narrative of that journey lies before us—curious and interesting enough , especially in those passages wherein he is plainly telling what he experienced , but rendered less agreeable by the ambitious passages in which he attempts to " write up" uninteresting details . His journey was unpremeditated . He crossed to the West Indies and
the States apparently for mere amusement ; and at the suggestion of the moment determined upon the perilous journey across the Rocky Mountains to California—a romantic adventure , worthy of its record . As a book to lounge through during an idle afternoon , this may be commended . No one will find it dull ; and if it be slighter in texture than one could wish , in that respect it resembles most modern books of travels—books written to
be sold , read , and forgotten . There is too much space devoted to the earlier and less interesting incidents of this journey Sketches of society in the West Indies are hacknied now . Here , however , is a glimpse of the scenery of the Blue Mountains worth extracting : — * VAs we ascended , we observed a considerable change in the vegetation . Parasitical and orchidaceous plants grew in great luxuriance ; their rope-like roots dropped from the high branches to the ground , and were entwined with endless varieties of creepers , ¦ which , again clomb ¦ up wards , gracefully concealing
the unsightliness of their naturally-formed ladders . These festoons , woven together in rank exuberance , fashioned themselves above into a verdant canopy , which effectually excluded the scorching rays of the sun . Among the most remarkable objects of this vegetable kingdom is the tree fern . Its stem is sometimes between forty and fifty feet high ; from the top it throws out delicate leafy branches , drooping downwards , and give it all the appearance of a small and beautiful palm . But delightful as are these shadowy deserts , " there is a terrible absence of animal life . Hardly a bird or beast is to be seen . A few days
since we rode into the woods above Bachelor s Pen , and saw great numbers of parrots and humming-birds , but to-day we have seen nothing of the kind ; the only traces of any living thing being a patch of ground , where some wild pigs had been rooting with their noses , and a black snake , which one of our horses trod on in the path . When we got to the top of the pass , just at the foot of the Blue Mountains , and about 3000 feet above the level of the sea , we dismounted , and walked nearly to the bottom of the hill , until we came to a lovely spot , where two or three tributary streams empty themselves into the Rio Grande . "
There is something very amusing in the account of the outfit of the inexperienced party , when they were about to front the desperate chances of the overland route ; white kid gloves , ginger-beer in bottles , chocolate , camp-stools , and carving knives ' —but not a word of ropes , harness , picket-pins , and necessaries . It is natural to suppose that such an outfit was soon practically . discovered to be absurd . Indeed , part of the amusement of this record arises from the inexperience of the travellers , and the experience of the mules . Look at these animals in the following passage : —
" Brought all the animals down , tied them up , and packed them . If ever there were other vicious mules in the world , they must have been amiability itself comparod with ours . , They rolled , they kicked , thqy plunged ,, they screamed , they bit , as though we had been submitting them to the torments of the damned . Taking six men to each mule , wo iinally lashed the packs on them so tight as almost to cut them in two . The moment their heads were loosed , away they went into the river , over the hills , and across the country as hard as they could lay legs to the ground . Oh ! it was a pretty sight ! The flour and biscuit stuff swimming about in tho river , the hams in a ditch full of mud , the now sot of pots and pane bumping and rattling on tho ground until thoro was not a morspl of shape left in one of them . And tho pack-saddles , which have delayed u « a week to pet made , broken and smashed to splinters . "
But after the thrilling pages of Kelly ' s Excursion to California , the incidents in this volume are tame , partly because the terrible Indians only loom in the distance , and never actually come upon the scene . We have not space , to quote some of the longer extracts we had marked ,. and must conclude with this account—for the especial indignation of all readers—of the Indian squaw and
THE BOASTED PUPPY . " A young puppy that had been playing with the child was seized by the woman , and received from her half a dozen sharp blows on the throat with a piece of wood about to be used for firing . The puppy was then returned , kicking , to the tender mercies of the infant , who exerted its little might to add to the miseries of the beast , while the mother prepared the fire and a small kettle for the purpose of cooking .
The puppy , still much more alive than dead , was then taken by the hind legs and held over the flames , till the woman ' s fingers could bear the heat no longer . She then let it fall on the fire , where it struggled and squeaked most piteously , and would have succeeded in delaying its end , but that the little savage took care to provide for the security of his late playmate , by replacing him in the flames , till life was extinguished and the hair satisfactorily burnt off . "
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BEADBS POETICAL WORKS . The Poetical Work $ of John Edmund Reade . 2 vols . Chapman and Hall . The collected edition of the poetical works of an accomplished gentleman who , for twenty years , has laboured courageously at his art , demand a more deliberate notice than the intrinsic merit of these works would , perhaps , secure . Twenty years of ambition , ' twenty years of thoughtful labour , twenty years of love and brooding meditation , are here distilled and sent forth into the world ; to court the admiration and the sympathy , or brave the indifference , of readers and critics !
Our opinion must beTrankly given , even though it may sound harsh ; and that opinion may be expressed in a few words : Mr . Reade is a gentleman of poetical temperament and elegant mind , but he is not a poet . By this our readers know that we do not mean to deny Mr . Reade ' s having written poetry , and some beautiful poetry , as far as a passage here and
there can be isolated from the text , and presented in shape of a " specimen brick " ; but we mean that he is not by nature endowed with that peculiar organization of a poet , which no education can supply . If you demand a short and easy proof , without going to the volumes themselves , read this magniloquent description of Homer in the vision entitled E «^« aov O ( u * pov .
** Methought I stood upon the Chian strand In vision : I beheld blind Homer there Beside a rock in meditation stand . I knew the godlike aspect of the Seer : The waves dashed at his feet , he heard them not ; The harp was in his hands , it was forgot In the high mood of his abstracted thought . The breezes sighed amid his hoary hair , That floated o ' er his neck and shoulders bare .
The inward cheerfulness that emanates From the great soul which its own light creates , Shone o ' er his auguat countenance , as sheds The sun its light o ' er mountains' topmost heads . His forehead bald rose like nn altar * place Lighted with fire from heaven : his reverent face Turned toward the Betting sun , whose lustrous flood Fell , robe-like , round the prophet where he stood , Typing the everlasting crown that Fame Haloing should cast around his deathless name ! Ye saw the feeling of the infinite Quickening his visage with an inward light : The moving lips where inspiration dwelt , As if the presence of the god he felt ,
Descending on him in that solitude . In that large forehead and entranced mood Was stamped the imago of the immortal creature : Even while I gazed , I felt how mighty Nature Entered his soul ! a prophet there he Btood , His inspirations round him : from the roar-Of waves , his rushing verso was born : their power From the cternul rocks ; from the great sky And storms , tho strength and the sublimity With which ho robed his gods j from yonder Sun , The watching symbol ojt" tho eternal One , That shone upon him thoro in that calm hour , As if it lingered round him while it blest ; Tho calm , tho grandeur , majesty , and rest . "
In this passage there are sounding linos and poetical expressions ; but who does not feel that this vague and meaningless abstraction of a Poet is almost ludicrous applied to Homer ? It is not true , Mr . Reade ; you never $ id have such a vision 1 If
Homer appeared to you , he never appeared ] ike that . Think of the rough , hearty , naive Homer as a Prophet 1 . But the passage serves our purpose as illustrative of Mr . Reade ' s poetical failures : every where , as here , we findI him substituting ^ vague abstractions for the quick pulsations of life—a sounding period for a reality . He calls these volumes the " Inward confessional of all that passed TJpon this inner soul . Thestrife Of thought to interpenetrate our life , Rooting its mysteries to the Source of Being . "
Now , it is precisely because these volumes are no confession of his life , that we deny their claim to be considered poetry . He may have tried to let his sorrows and his thoughts express themselves in music ; but the unskilful fingers playing on the harp can only play the tune they have been taught , even when attempting to play a tune that " beats time to nothing in the head " of the player . Mr . Reade , as we said , is a man of elegant mind and poetical temperament . Like thousands of
others , he has mistaken aspiration for inspiration , and devoted himself to an Art which Nature never devoted him to . This is the reason why he begins by writing Cains , Deluges , and Italy ' s , in imitation of Byron , and concludes by writing Dramas of Life and Revelations of Life , in imitation of Wordsworth . He is never himself ; always the echo of some other ' s song . Had there been a song within him , it would have risen above all echoes and burst forth .
Not poetry , then , but agreeable verse , must the reader seek in these volumes . He will find it . What a fine image in the fifth line of this opening stanza to Italy ;— - " Oh ! never yet ' Ida ' s woods reclined , Parnassian height , or Delphic shades enshrined , Was a sublimer , worthier altar thine Than where I hear the chantings of the wind , Cfoufcfdlded on the stormy Apennine ! Than where I feel thee linked with Nature's life and mine . "
Here , again , is a good Byronic passage : — " Is this wreck all that now remains of thee , Thou magisterial forum i this the place , Ambition ' s fiery altar ? can it be This tree-scathed solitude is all the trace Where temples crowded into narrowing space ! Looking while to yon azure heaven they soared , As if eternity were in their base ; Where heroes , demagogues their passion poured , And the plebeian herd ruled , flattered , or implored . '
" Here the Past sits a substance , not a shade , The palpable wrecks around her throne and bier : We feel her breath the conscious air pervade , A sense of her prophetic being near : While in the silence audibly ye hear The throbbing pulse of mutability ! The unheeded present is a shadow here : The Future child of both , doth prophesy , Changes that storm-like felt , in folded thunders lie . Elsewhere he speaks with exquisite beauty of ' ? The summits of unreached ambition seen In the clear orient of opening youth !'
One passage more , and we have done ; it Bhall be from the description of Arethusa : — " She threw herself upon the bank beneath The shadowing willow that o ' erhung the stream , Her bow and shafts were cast upon the turf : Her head against a bough reclined , her neck Gleamed whiter from the depths of shadow cast By the black trees : her parted lips drank in The breathing air , like pulses of her life ; Spent with fatigue , her arms hung listlessly : Like a pale statue in eternal rest She lookedstill marblecoldand beautiful ,
, , , Waiting the spark of life ' s enkindling flame . " These are sufficient to indicate that the volumes contain passages such as entitle them to a reading . Our criticism is severe only because we have considered the volumes as poetry meant for posterity-To . 'the general remarks we would fain add one pa'
ticular observation on the frequent carelessness ana discord of the versification—a carelessness wnion > in . works so long under the author ' s hands , « inexcusable . A delicate sense of music Mr . Reaao has not ; and in blank verse he follows the weaK , unrhythmical , and licentious blank verse of Byron ; but there are a quantity of verses that have no scansion whatever : e . a .:
—" Fireflies pendant hung Amidst tho lovelled rays poised motionless on InviBibly thrilling wings , lightning like . Again : —
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110 ® % fi JLt& * tt * [ SAyuRDgy . _ — — ^^^^¦ hr ~~~**~ " »^ M ^^^ i ^ M ^—* a **^»*^^*^* ' ^^^^^^^^^ . . ' -,... ' . ¦
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Leader (1850-1860), Jan. 31, 1852, page 110, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1920/page/18/
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