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road of peaceful national prosperity and constitutional progress , and the nation will hail thorn with confidence as their leaders , and follow- their traditional names with twice the enthusiasm with which they once followed their ancestors into the field of battle ; but , ' Kossuth . added , addressing the ^ aristocracy in their own persons , 'if there are men among you who think that tlie splendid name you liav « inherited from your ancestors is an inexhaustible capital , which confers on you the right to spend your lives in inaction , or even to set up your personal privileges and your private interests in the way of rig ht and justice , smd of the national commonweal ; if such men are to be found , who by their blind egotism cl" ^ the wheel of the world ' s advance , or of that rational progress which should guide the counsels of a wise government , hindering that which the general need and the instinct of the nation demand * , then—now , the nation unaided by you , will fulfil its own destinywith yoii , by you , if you will ; without you , even against you , if it must beS "
But though lie attached undue value to the aiustocratic element m the constitution—though he never wished to overthrow constitutional monarchy in Hungary , but only to reform and purify it—experience soon taught him to distrust Austr ian faith and Austrian promises . The difference between his feelings and those of his more credulous colleagues , flushed and hopeful from the triumph of having obtained from the king a responsible Ministry , is well described : — " It -was with much difficulty that Batthyanyi persuaded Kossuth to form one of the Ministry ; he was not ambitious of ofHce , and he knew that he differed on several points iVom Batthyanyi , and from tbos >« who composed the rest of his Cabinet ; but the Premier
considered his presence to be indispensable , and that no Cabinet could exist in Hungary from which he was excluded . Kossuth was not as credulous as many of his colleagues , of the fair promises tliey had received ; he was well aware that the Viennese Ministers would not regard with favourable eyes the efforts of the Liberal party to maintain order and independence ; and , therefore , while earnestly cherishing the hope of peace , he thought it expedient to be prepared to resist external aggression ; he could not believe that a few weeks would change the whole policy of Austria , and urged that immediate preparations should bj made to put the country in a . state of defence , Batthyanyi , on the contrary , could see no reason for distrust . With views narrowed by an aristocratic education , he could never comprehend the true character of the people who confided in him , and he feared democracy inore tJian the tyranr . y of despots . "
We might extract from this memoir many interesting illustrations of the incredible energy ' which is so distinguishing a characteristic of this remarkable man . We all know—he told " us—how and where he learnt our language ; how , in his dreary imprisonment in the fortress of Bud a , worn , in health and wearied in spir it by the two years' of solitary confinement he had endured before even books were allowed him , he mastered a foreign language with such completeness , that never ,, in the memory of living mini , has ifc been wielded , even by a native orator , with greater power . Even when at Kutahia . in 1850 , an exile and a fugitive ^ in circumstances calculated to crush the spirit and paralyse the energies of most men , we are told he devoted himself to acquiring theTurkish language , and to composing a grammar , now 5 n use in the Turkish schools . We take but a one-sided view of his character if we omit to notice the gentleness and mercy which distinguished his public acts . Never was he known to err on the side of harshness or injustice towards even his bitterest enemies . Indeed , his tenderness of disposition and command of temper were proverbial among liis countrymen , ilis biographer quotes a trilling anecdote on this subject , which we insert as characteristic : — ' ¦ ¦* ¦
" . While thus occupied with liis Ministerial labours , Kossuth almost denied himself necessary rest ; but Ins placidity of temper and gentleness of disposition never forsook him in the jclations of domestic life . An anecdote is told of him at this period , that one day having spent the whole of the previous night in writing , and having retired to snatch a short interval of rest , he found on liis return that the large pile of papers which had occupied him during so many hours had disappeared . On inquiry being made , an old servant of the family acknowledged that , suppooing them to be rubbish , he had used them to light the fires . Kossuth bid the man nut . distress himself , as lie could write them ' over again , and tat d «\ vn with an unruffled temper to recommence his work . " Tlie best testimonial to his character is found in the adoration with which he is still regarded in Hungary . Nine hundred out of every thousand boys born since 1848 , we are told , bear the name of " Lajos" ( Louis ) in memory of the exile .
This is not the place to retrace the sad story of 1849—of " foreign force and native fraud '—of the treachery of friends and the apathy of European Governments—which laid Hungary again under the yoke of that relentless despotism which is a bye-word eveu among despotisms . But we cannot refrain from extracting and from echoing one more passage from this book , believing , as we do , that a selfish policy in nations , as in individuals , will infallibly receive , sooner or later , a just retribution , and that , according as the constitutional Governments of JKurope support the struggling nationalities cordially and loyally , or desert them from limid and temporising views of ( miscalled ) policy , will the cause of constitutional liberty stand or fall ? " On the 1 st of August , Lord Pahnerston had written a despatch to Vienna , offering to mciluite , % f Austria desired it . Thw Russians were then in the very centre of Hungnry , the assistance of the autocrat hud enabled Au . stm to overthrow a constitutional government , anil destroy the freedom of lift con millions uf human beings ; and England , after refusing her services while there was yet thru * , offered to stuy thu hand of the destroyer wlien tho denth-struKclo had already commenced .
In 18 JS ) l \«{ ret wrotu thus : — - 'Tho interests of Europe , of Immunity , require that tho ambition of KuHsia should receive a check Site is preparing the way for future conquest in tho south of Kuropp , and to these conquest a WtiHiiehiu < m < l Moldaviu are tho ln&U roiid . ih « so countries luivo no force which could enable them to resist her invading nriny for a single day , nor is it possible tliutJ ' w centuries they can have . . . Independent , therefore , thoso provinces ermnot he ; tho question then is , to whom they ahull belong ? . . . . Hungary in tho only power which could hold them with safety to hursolf and others . Lot Hungary offer tho Principalities ) a frank union , a fair Bhn . ro in tho advantages oi' her conntmulon , and an equality of rights nnd privileges , and I ha \ o no doubt tho Walluclimns would gladly join themselves to i \ country which could guarantee thorn a national existence , civil and religious freedom , and mi identity of material intereatfj . Hungary , too would gladly accent a share in the trade of tho lilwk Sen , and might probably bo induced to give up her claims on Uallioia for such a connwimntion—and then , with constitutional lolaind reinstated in her integrity on the omi t ) iih « , and eon . sLitutionul Hungary intervening on tliootliur , the loard of invasion from absolute ltunma would bo an idle bugbear , unworthy a
it wi ¦ ' •' '' "'"¦ m """ ''' ™> JiwM » tton van Juira / Hi ever ba mf < : ' ' Where is Hungary now ? UiiHuiii was invite ! by Auat . ru to bio . ik down the second and strongOHt humor wliiuh hnpudml liur C ( un | iic » l in ICur .. ^ . Knjjl . mil , Franco , and IVuhsIii fi n Vnv 1 , ° " tli 0 1 > l <> co ° ¦'" W "' ° ' - ° " l > ' « n- »« r only nm . iiitt ; wlmt wondor llion u NwhuliiH , encouraged L y tho conduct of tho I ' osvers at tliin period , uUmmt to rt . ? Htroy tho Inat . pLsludu between him nnd thu ambition of his race , from tho time of tho » r « nt lotorj anil on whoin doo » the blnnio real , if Mnropo U again n hcpiio of war and i , i ? fal V ' T » ll 0 1 wuI «» l »»« - »» « f nutloiiH , uh of iiLllvlduulM , I * blmrt-Hl H hlfil . mul n jutu rt'tribiitSon muHt visit , 10 H 0 y , lM llrtt 0 vta { Ws 0 \ to illlorpo 80 thu \ r ill ( | u , . ol () Ha ' fP 0 , » V Bti uctloii tho live * and hbertkm of tlu , only grot nation in coutliivutnl Huron * , whom ; r . u . iilu tan boast aeonuUtution ol ulght coutuilea . "
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MORE POETS . Poems . By James Macfarlan . Robert Hardwicke . p oetical Tentalives . By Lynn Erith . Saundersand Otley . r ii-milian , n Spasmodic Tragedy . By T . Percy Jones . Blackwood and Sons . Songs from the Dramatists . Edited by Eobert Bell . John . W . Parker and Son ! Five Dramas by an Englishman . Sauuders and Otley . The Siege oj SUistria : a Poem . By William Thomas Thornton . Longmans . A Waterloo Commemoration for 1854 . By Michael T . Barry . Wm . S . Orr and Co . Seven modern muses were noticed in this journal not very many days since . The ever-flowing tide of publication brings us this week no less than six more , whom we must despatch in a single article . In writing these words , we are led to remark the peculiar tendency of the age to poetical—( well—rythniical)—expression . Here are thirteen new volumes of poetry published in the space of a few weeks , of different degrees of merit ,
but none of them rising above mediocrity , while many , we must admit , fall far below it . Different as these books are , —different as men ' s minds , —there runs through all the present school of minor poets a certain resemblance . If we read the table of contents prefixed to any recent volume of poems , we cannot but be struck with the similarity of the subjects chosen . Poetry has its Vicars of Wakefield , its Cavaliers , its Deerstalkers , Gipsies , and Italian peasants , as regularly as Painting . " Solitude , " " Memory , " "Night , " " Ihe Past , " " Nature , " " The Soul , " " Hope , " " Music , " " Evening , " &c , &c , greet us as certainly in these -volumes , as do our old friends above-named , in Trafalgar-square . The poetic taste of the present day is characterised by a worship of nature , and by a careful and minute observation of the changes of the external world . Add to this an estger recognition of the analogies between the . material and immaterial , and you have the stock in trade of many a modern poet , whose very facility of versification becomes a deadly snare to him , because out of these materials he finds it so easy to weave endless reveries . From this danger Alexander Smith , does not entirely and the and
escape , though his true poetic talent ^ variety fertility of bis imagination * save him from becoming monotonous or common-place . But in inferior hands the danger is manifest ; the obvious analogies and natural illustrations are soon exhausted , and the writer either repeats himself everlastingly , or becomes strained and exaggerated , deeming himself / forcible . "We have mentioned Alexander Smith ; because , in the poems of Mr . Macfarlan , now before us , the influence of that poet is strikingly apparent . The exuberances and mannerisms which the sincere admirers of Alexander Smith regard as errors incidental to youth , and inexperience , are precisely the characteristics most easily _ imitated . Mr . Macfa , rUvn's imagery is . as . pro ? fuse ; but not , alas ! as varied ; Rosebuds , stars , suns * dew-drops , teardrops , waves , motes , and beams , besprinkle the pages . Here and there we find a well- expressed thought , or a pretty image , but there is a sad lack of originality for the most part . To us there is neither nature nor novelty in the following conversation—or rather exchange of what Dickens calls " moral crackers" between two friends : —•
" ERNEST . " Hopes lie like flowers ujjon the path of man ; And ¦ when th « y wither , it is oft because His own unwary steps have crushed their bloom . " JULIAS . " T he past is but the charncl house of Time , Wherein are buried all our hopes and joys ; While memories come back like sheeted ghosts To haunt us in the midnight of our thoughts . " ERNEST , "Be happy yet ! Build up a proud resolve Upon the ruins of thy shattered hopes . " Or in this : " EKNEST . " Man ' s thoughts would fain go round the universe , And set out bravely on the mighty task ; But when they enter on the confines dim Of dread inBnity , they quickly fall Like frighted shot-stars to the breast of earth . " jumajj . " Wo must retire ; the moon looks calmly in , As if to smile at our late sitting here . " cyjuju 41 You do mistiike her ; she is now at rest . The moon reveals her beauty to tho night Without a blush upon her virgin cheek ; But when thu earth too amorously looks up , She draws a cloud upon her naked form To screen her from the g « z « . " 1 o screen her from the g « z « .
[ Exeunt , Ernest , the hero of tho poem just quoted , is one of those mysteriously miserable geniuses , tender and sensitive , though steeped in crime ( they would have you believe ) of the blackest dye , who aro especially fashionable with this class of writers . Mr . Macfarlan has considerable power of versification ; wo hope ho may " change his Land , " apply the pruning knife , and do better things . There is less fault to find with Poetical Tentatioes ; but neither ia there much to admire ; the versification is smooth , —sometimes rather slovenly , tho subjects neither novel , nor originally treated . Wo subjoin a specimen : —¦ " THIS itUSIHMO RIVER . " Oh , river I mailing rivor , Tlmt ilowuth on tor over , Under tho » lnulow of tlio tree that droopoth down ; ( Swift art thou , and full Of tho rolling beautiful , Choir of rock and wave , aa they each other crown . "Thy goal is notyot won , But wtill thou glidout on , To whero ita shores lire rjing ; Towards thai , mlglity « oa , Which soon ttliaU » vl them froo , Thy trembling wavea avo uighing . " How rapid in lh < i lido Of lift' , which thou doth fi lido Towards Homo houudloeiiiocoiin ; ilovv many a « oul to-day , ^ I . i hurrying on it « way , With nifll » ii > K »" l oinoticKi 1 "
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August 12 , 1854 . ] THE LEADER . 761
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Leader (1850-1860), Aug. 12, 1854, page 761, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2051/page/17/
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