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Leader (1850-1860), 20th November 1852, Edition Town of 2, Page 1116

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      Untitled Article

      Critics are not the legislators , but the judges and police of literature . They do notmake laws—the } ' interpret and try to enforce them . —Edinburgh Mevietct , ¦

      Untitled Article

      Literature and everything' else , must this week retire into the shade , away from the noisy turmoil attendant on the funeral of the great Duke ; or , if it wish to gain an ear , it must speak of that great Duke . This it does in many accents , mostly foolish . Articles and biographies , pamphlets and poems , crowd upon the inattentive public . Death always breeds corruption ! From out the Wellingtonian literature , one poem stands eminent , because signed by a great name—Alfred Tennyson ; but not even that great name , nor the love we bear it , can prevent our saying of this Ode on the Death of the Duke of Wellington , what an intrinsically poor performance it is . So little thought seems to have been bestowed on it , that even the title is not appropriate—the ode is not on the death , but on the burial of the Duke ; which it neither describes nor calls up before the reflective eye , suggesting grand and mournful images . The substance of the ode is made up of common-place reflections ; the form wants the redeeming splendour of imagery befitting a great event . Wherefore did Alfred write this ode ? Because he is Poet Laureate ? Surely not because the OMTrpog within goaded him with that poetic pain which insists on utterance ? The best portions of the ode we will give . After a call upon England to " bury the great Duke with an empire ' s lamentation , " he sings : — " Lead out the pageant : sad and slow , As fits an universal woe , Let the long long procession go , And let the sorrowing crowd about it grow , And let the mournful martial music blow ; The last great Englishman is low . " Mourn , for to us he seems the last : Our sorrow draws but on the golden Past . O friends , our chief state-oracle is mute : Mourn for the man of long-enduriug Wood , The statesman-warrior , moderate , resolute , "Whole in himself , a common good . Mourn for the man of largest influence , Yet freest from ambitious crime , Our greatest yet with . least pretence , Great in council and great in war , Foremost captain of liis time , Rich in saving common-sense , And , as the greatest only are , h \ his simplicity sublime . O good gray head which all men knew , O voice from which their omens all men drew , 0 iron nerve to true occasion true , O iall ' ii at length that tower of strength Which stood four-square to all the winds that blew ! Such was he whom we deplore . The long self-sacrifice of life is o ' er : The great World-victor ' s victor will he seen no more . We are then told to bury him in St . Paul's to salvos of cannon , voices so well known to him , — " His (! a ]) lain ' s ear has heard them boom , Hollowing victory , hollowing doom 3 ' ' nnd the strophe closes with these good linos : — "Jn praise and in dispraise ( he same , A man of well-atleniper'd frame . O civic muse , to such a name , To such a name for nges long , To such a name 1 ' rc . serrc a , broad approach , of fame , And cwr-rin / jin // arennex of son // . " Nelson , startled by this solemn noise , asks whom they arc bringing to lie beside him , ( a somewhat feeble invention this !) and is told , in many indifferent lines , that it is his rival , " as great by land as thou by sen , " anil is , moreover , told ( hat this groat landsman is " Kngland ' s greatest son . " We suppose Pindaric statements are beyond the reach of criticism , otherwise we mig ht ask what is sincerely meant by calling Wki-mncton lowland ' s trreahst . son ' Hut let criticism withdraw awhile , and leave tin : poet to chant as bo pleases : "A people ' s voice ! wo am a . people yet . Tlio' all men olse their nobler dmiins lorget Confused by brainless mobs and lawless l ' owers , We have , a voice , with which to pay the debt , Of most unbounded reverence and regret To I hose great men who fought , and kept if . ours . <) Statesmen , guurd us , guard the eye , the noul Of Uiiropc , keep our noble Kngliuui whole , And save the one trim seed of freedom sown li < : { , \ vi \( . a people and their ancient , thrones That sober freedom out of which them Hpringn Our loyal pawion for our temperate kings ; For , saving that , yo . save mankind Till public ; wrong be crumbled into dust , And help ( he inarch of human miml , Till crowds be sane and crowna be just ; liul , wink no more in slothful overtru . sl .

      Perchance our greatness will increase % Perchance a darkening future yields Some reverse from worse to woi-se , The blood of men in quiet fields , And sprinkled on the sheaves of peace . And O remember him who led your hosts ; k Respect his sacred warning ; guard your coasts : His voice is silent in your council-hall Forever ; and whatever tempests lower For ever silent ; even if they broke In thunder , silent—yet remember all He spoke among you , and the Man who spoke ; . Who never sold the truth to serve the hour . Nor palter'd with Eternal God for power . ^ His eighty winters freeze with , one rebuke All great self-seekers trampling on th £ right . Truth-teller was our England ' s Alfred named , Truth-lover was our English Duke ; Whatever record leap to light He never shall be shamed . " Lo the leader in these glorious wars Now to glorious burial slowly borne , Follow'd by the brave of other lands , He , on whom from both her open hands Lavish . Honour shower'd all her stars , And affluent Fortune emptied all her horn . Yea , let all good things await Him who cares not to be great , But as he saves or serves the state . Not once or twice in our rough islat , d-story The path of duty was the way to glory . He that walks it , only thirsting For the right , and learns to deaden Love of self before bis journey closes , He shall find the stubborn thistle bursting Into glossy purples , which outredden All voluptuous garden-roses . Not once or twice in our fair island-story , The path , of duty was the way to glory . He , that ever following her commands , On with toil of heart and knees and hands , Thro' the long gorge to the far light has won His path upward , and prevail'd , Shall find the toppling crags of Duty scal ' d Are close upon the shining table-lands To which our God Himself is moon and sun . He has not fail'd : he hath prevail'd : So let the men whose hearths he saved from shame Thro' many and many an age proclaim At civic revel and pomp and game , And when the long-illumined cities flame , Their ever-loyal iron leader ' s fame , With honour , honour , honour , honour to him , Eternal honour to his name . " Tennyson is said to compose with great slowness ; and as this Ode must have been written hastily , it may have that extenuation , although in truth the primary conception is as insignificant as the execution . It is often asked , and asked with natural surprise , why the Clergy , who have llevealed Truth snug in their own possession , should in general be so averse from discussion , so intolerant of antagonistic publications , while Philosophers , with no surer guides than Logic and Common Sense , never decline controversy . We read orthodox publications , — finding them supremely harmless ; but the orthodox will not , if they can help it , suffer oar works to have readers , —finding them " dangerous ! " In Notting ham , a town of about 100 , 000 inhabitants , no copy of the Westminster Review was to be had at any public library , two or three weeks ago ; and in more than one public subscription library of our provincial towns the Review has been excluded , by the active clergy , " alarmed" at its contents . Warwick , a clergyman wrote ; on tins back of the Review , ' The article on the Restoration , of Beliefis full of awful blasphemy , '" and forthwith exerted himself to rid the library of a work containing such articles . Nm v this said article is generally understood to be the production of a Christina minister as remarkable for the fervent piety as for the glowing eloquent and amazing subtlety of his writing , but , being an Unitarian , he ol course " blasphemes , " and his writing must be repudiated with saintly honor !

      Untitled Article

      There has been much discussion , and some ridicule , excited by ^ motion of D'lHiUKLi to the Chancellorship of the Jixdiequei ; D " ^ Uun week given his ruisou d ' etre , us thu philosophers way , the J »

      Untitled Article

      1 ll ( J A new illustrated Faust is in course ; of publication in Germany , designs arc by Encjki . iikkt Skihkrtz ; two parts have appeared . ^ () II j a casual inspection , we are not disposed to esteem the designs as < M art . lint the book will be a superb , though costly , drawing-roo m tu ornament . books Then ; is little else of novelty on the continent . Among Y ' * - ^ , / ,, worth a pussing line , lire the seventh volume of Lamawtink ' s il ' ^ " ^ <) f la liesttruralion , which brings the narrative down to the « i «» ^ Louis XVIJI : and the aseonsiou of Ohablkh X . to the throne ; * ^ a volume by Loimh Hkviiauo , containing two amusing novels , Brontin and he Co < j da Clocher .

      Untitled Article

      1116 THE LEADER . [ Saturday ,

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Nov. 20, 1852, page 1116, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1961/page/16/