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THE ANGEL IN THE HOUSE . The Angel in the House . The Betrothal . John W . Parker . This is the first part of a very elaborate poem on the grand old subjects of . Love , Woman , and Marriage . We give the anonymous ( but , we suspect , not unknown ) writer the honour of an article alL to himself , for two reasons , which we venture to call excellent onea : firstly , because he is clearly a man of ime thought and feeling ; secondly , because his "book is evidently the fruit of much meditation , and is conscientiously elaborated with all due care and study . It is , indeed , encouraging to find a man in these days actually writing a poem with care and study . Host writers produce them as children produce soap-bubbles --which may of course be pretty , as we do not deny . iNo man would go to a -party without attending somewhat carefully to his dress , yet how many exhibit their minds to the public almost in a state of nudity ?
Love , in the pages of this poet , is treated mainly under its xeli < nous and spiritual aspect . Woman is worshi pped as the elevator . Marriage is a symbol of the hi ghest . We have tenderness and passion ; but the ° fire is always altar-fire . The poet gives us his " Song of Solomon , " and glorifies his Kose of Sharon and Lily of the Valley ; but—as in the " Song of Solo-^ i . ^ u English Bible—there is a constant reference to " Christ ' s love ior the Church . It is observed by a -writer , whom we fear our author will consider an impertinent intruder here—we mean Thomas Moore—that Ovid makes love like si rake , and Propertius like a schoolmaster . " We might say of the "Angel in the House , " that its author makes love like a parson—not a sleek , comfortable parson of the Paley school—but a romantic , pietistic parson , much given to Coleridge , high church , and Gothic architecture . Those who derive their notions of love-poetry from the ancients —or , among the moderns , from the songs of our lyrists , includin g Bums—• will be awed and puzzled by the " Angel in the House . " For instance , take « ie- following passage , part of a description of a ball , at which the poet and his betrothed are present : —
Ah , love to speak was impotent , Till music did a tongue confer , And I ne ' er knew what music meant , Until I danced to it with her . Too proud of the sustaining power Of my , till then , unblemish'd joy , My passion , for reproof , that hour Tasted mortality's alloy , And bore me down an eddying gulf : I wish ' d the world might run to wreck , So I but once might fling myself About her beautiful white neck . I ask'd her , -would she waltz , a dance " We hated f and I saw the rays Withdrawn , which did till then enhance
Her fairness with its thanks for praise . She'd dance the next quadrille , then ? " Yes . " "No , " had not fall ' n with half the force . Sh « -wa 9 fuliil ' d with gentleness , And I with measureless remorse . This will illustrate what we i / ioa ? 1 : a reader guilty of admiring the lovely XS l -ithalamium «» f Catullus , on Julia and Manlius ' s wciMing , has nothing f r it but to hold his breath here an-1 feel rcl . uked ; an admirer of a well-known ballad of Suckling ' s on a similar occasion , would be apt to indulge in profane laughter . Having jmJieafce-l tbc leading spirit of the book , let us glance at its literary qualities . The f Hawing seem ;* ' to us a singularly charming little bit of description : — I -woke at tlirce ; for I was bid
To breakfast with the Dean at nine , And tako his girls to church . I slid My curtain , found the season fine , And could nut rest , so rose . The air Was dark and sharp ; the roosted birds Chcep'd , " Hero am I , Sweet ; are you there ?" On Avon's misty flats the herds lixpected , comfortless , the day , Which slowly fired the clouds above ; The cock scream'd , somewhere far away ; In sleep the matrimonial < lovo Was brooding : no wind waited the wood , Nor moved tho midnight marlsh damps , Nor thrill'd the poplar ; quiet stood The cheotnut with its thousand lamps ; Tlio moun shone yflt , but weak and drear ,
And Bcem'd to -watch , with bated breath , The landscape , all mado sharp and clear By stillness , us a face by death . We extend the same prais" to a passage , wherein the effect produced !» , tho society of wjnion is th « subject of a beautiful illustration : — "Whenever I conic where women are , How snd soc ' or I wna before , Though like a ship front-bound and far Withhold in ico from tho ocean ' s roar , Third-winter'd in that dreadful dock , With HtilFu ' d cordage , m » U « docay'd , And crow that care for culm and hWocIc . Alike , too ( hill to be disinuyM ; Though spirited like that Hpecdlotm bnrlc ,
My cold alFeotionn like tho crow , My proriont drear , niy future dark , Tlio paint t (< o happy to 1 m true 5 Yot if I coino where worn on arc , How Bud Hoevor I wiih before , Thon is » ny himIiiohh baninh'd far , And I nun like that nhip no moro ; Or like that whip if tho ico-Hold split * , 1 Jurat by tho sudden polar Spring , And all thnnk God with thoir warmed wlta
And kiss each other and dance and sing And hoist fresh sails that make the breeze Blow them along the liquid sea , From the homeless North where life did freeze , Into the haven where they would be . Yet , we must add , that we wish that the writer had condescended oftener to be musical . We like , as Horace < Hd , that poems should be " sweet" us well as wise , or good in substance . Our poet is sometimes crabbed and even quaint . Here is a stanza from his " Sentences "—a department where he -varies the narrative by little occasional dicta on the subject of th « book Patal in force yet gentle in will , Her power makes , not defeats , but pacts ; For , like the kindly loadstone still She's drawn herself by what she attracts . This is as like Donne as it can stare ; a . fact not without significance for there is a kind of antique ecclesiastic colour over the whole volume , stran < niv mingled with a latent liking for mere natural description , which is equalled by few , and is quite of the most modern kind .
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HABITS AND MEM " . Habits and Men , with Remnants of Record touching the Makers of Both . By Dr Doran - Bentley . Db . Doban is succeeding to the place in literature of John Disraeli . His quaint , felicitous " Curiosities" are becoming precious , as anecdote-books , the present one being carefull y adapted to maintain the agreeable reputation obtained by the Table Traits—this last collection of stories evidently coming from the same " commonplace-book" of anti-commonplaces . Dr . Doran is less scholarly than Dr . Disraeli , but he is more the wit and man of tie world , and , for general readers , the pouring out of his learning is all the more pleasant : ttayle might shake his head , but Dr . Doran writes for Bentley . "We give specimens of this last volume—merely premising , what is our highest praise , that the whole volume is just as quotable .
l . Al > Y-r , IICE MANNERS IN THE 1 . AST CENTURV . Walpdle is quite right in designating the gaiety of the women as art awkward jollity . __ Rough enjoyment was a fashion at this time -with the fair . Mrs . Sherwood , in her pleasant Autobiography , adverts to this subject in speaking of her mother's early days , when undignified amusements were not declined by ladies of any age . One of these she describes as consisting of the following sort of violent fun . A large strong tablecloth was spread on the upper steps of the staircase , and upon this cloth the ladies inclined to the frolic seated themselves in rows upon , the steps . Then the gentlemen , or the mm , took hold of the lower end of the cloth , attempting to pull it down stairs ; the ladies resisted this with all their might , and the greater
the number of these delicate creatures the longer the struggle was protracted . The contest , however , invariably ended by the cloth and the ladies being pulled down to the bottom of the stairs , when everything was found bruised , except modesty . " High Life below Stairs" could hardly have been too rampant in its exposition , if it really reflected what was going on above . We can hardly realise the matter . " \ Ve hardly do so in merely fancying we see good Lord Shaftesbury , Admiral Gambier , Baptist Noel , and Dr . M'Neil engaged in settling Miss Martineau , Catherine Sinclair , the Authoress of Amy Herbert , " and Mrs . Fry on a tablecloth upon the stairs , and hauling them down in a heap to the bottom . It would be highly indecorous ; but , I am almost ashamed to say , I should like to see it .
In 1748 George II . happened to see that gallant French equestrian , the Duchess of Bedford , on horseback , in a riding-habit of blue turned up with white . At that time there was a discussion on foot , touching a general uniform for the navy ; tlio appearance of the Duchess settled the question . George II . was so delighted with her Grace's appearance , that , he commanded tlio adoption of those colours ; and that accounts perhaps for the fact , thut sailors on a spree are ever given , to getting upon horseback , where they do not at all look like the Duchess whose colours thev
wear . Taste was undoubtedly texribly perverted in this oenttiry . Some ladies took thuir footmen with them into their box at the play ; others married actors , an < l their noble fathers declared they would have more willingly pardoned their daughters had they married lacqueys rather tlm 11 players . A daughter of the Earl of Abingdon married ( Jallini tho ballet-master , of whom George III . made a Sir . John ; " and Lady Harriet Wontworth did actually commit the madness of marrying her footman—a madnosH that had much method in it . This liulj ' , the daughter of Lord liockingharn , transacted this matter in tho most business-like way imaginable . She settled a hundred a year for life on her husband , but directed her whole fortune besides to pass to her children , should she have any ; otherwise , to her own family . She moreover " provided for a separation , undonsurcd the mime pin-money to Damon , in case they part . " She gave away all her fino clothes , and surrendered her titles : "linen and gowns , " she suid , " were proporest for 11 footman ' s wife ; and she went to her husband ' s family in Ireland as plain Mrs . Henrietta Sturgeon . "
It is characteristic of the manners of this period , that Lady Harriet Wentworth , in marrying her footman , was not considered as having ho terribly derog 6 as Lady Susan Fox , Lord Ilchostor ' s daughter , who in the same year , 176-i , married O'Urien tho actor , n man well to do , and who owned a villa « t Puiistnblc . The notor had contrived something of tho . spirit of force in carrying out his plot . He succeeded bo well in imitating tho handwriting of Lady SnaniVs dearest friend , Lady Surah Bunlmry , that Lord Ilchestor dolivwcd tho letters to his daughter with his own hand , and without suspicion . The couple used to meet at Mihh Head ' s the artist ; that is , Oathorinc Road , who painted whole bevies of our grandmothers , and whose portraits of youn # Queen Charlotte anil of thtit dreadful woman Mrs . Macauley ( represented a . n a Roman matron weeping over tho loot libertifiH of her country ) were tho delight of both connoisseurs and amntonr . s .
Tho mcotingH of tho lovers boeamo known to tho lady ' n proiul sire , and tomblo wn « tho scene which ensued bntwaon tho " pore noble" and tho u ingenuo . " Tho latter , however , promi . sod to Imuilc oH '/ ill intercom-no , provided she wore permitted totalteono last farewell . She waited » day or two till hIio wan of ago ; and then , "instead of being undor look ami key in the country , walked down Htairs , took her footman , said hIio wan going to broakfiiHt , with Lndy Harah , but would call at Miss llqiul ' s ; in tlm street , protended to recollect a particular cup in which aho wan to bo drawn ; scut the footman back for it , whipped into a hncknoy-chair , was mamed at Covont Garden Church , and net . out for Mr . O linen ' s villa nt Dunfltablo . " Thin marriage wan , an I have tiaid , thought worse of thiui if tlio bridegroom had been a lacquey . Tho latter uproar to hnvo been in ulngulur ontoem , dead or living . TI 111 H w « road that tho DuuIiomh of Douglas , in 17 ( if > , having loat n fuvowrito footman rather suddenly in Pnrln , hIic had lilm embalmed , mid went to ICngland , with l . l >« budy of'Joamos" tiod on ! a front of l « or chaise , U A droll way of boimj diief mounuir , " flays Wttlpolo , who adds aoinc droll things upon tho . English whom ho encountered \ n
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1048 THE LEADER . [ Satukpat ,
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Nov. 4, 1854, page 1048, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2063/page/16/
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