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So rusted and crusted with lichens old , I So rotted and spotted by rain and mould , That in vain I strove to decipher it . The -whole place seemed as if it were dead , So silent the sunshine over it shed Its golden light , —and the grasses tall , That quivered in clefts of the crumbling -wall , And a lizard that glanced with noiseless run Over the moss-grown broken shield , And , panting , stood in the afternoon sun , — Alone a token of life revealed . The castle was silent as a dream , — And its shadow into the courtyard slanted , Longer and longer climbing the -wall Slowly to where the lizard panted . AH -was still—save the running fall Of the surf-waves under the stern sea-wall , As they plunged along-with a shaking gleam , — And I said to myself— " The place is haunted . " I to myself seemed almost weird As I mused there , touched by a sort of spell , — Whether ' twas real or all ideal , The castle , the sea , and myself as well , I was not sure , I could not tell , The whole so like a vision appeared , — When near me upon the stones I heard A footfall , that-with its echo woke The sleeping courtyard , and strangely broke In on my dream , —as a pool is stirred By a sudden stone in its silence thrown , — And turning round , at my side I found A mild old man with a snowy beard . We have no space for further quotations , or we -would cite a poem called 'In St . P < eters : the Convert talks to his Friend . ' Whatever can be said in favour of the Romish Church , on the score of its appealing to emotion , and sentiment , and the natural love of beauty and splendour , and thus not contenting itself , like the Reformed Church , with simply addressing the intellect onrnatters of opinion , is here said with subtle perception of the real points at issue , and -with great richness of illustration . But our tether is run out , and we must be content with referring the reader to Mr . Story as to one of the best and most promising of new American poets . Orestes and the Avengers . An Hellenic JMystery . In Three Acts . By Goronva Camlan , Author of ' Lays from the Cimbric Lyre . ' ( J . W . Parker and Son . )—We have here a drama written partly after the ancient Greek model , with Chorus , Strophe , Antistrophe , and Epode , together -with many compound words and Hellenic forms of thought and expression . The unities , iowever 3 are not observed , for there is change of scene . The terrible story of Orestes , and of the pursuing Furies who haunted him in revenge for the murder of his mother , is told with a strong feeling for antiquity and with some dramatic power , though of a nature very different from what we are accustomed to in the romantic literature of modern Europe . Mr . Camlan appears to us to be pedantically classical , and to be often dry and wordy where he should be impassioned , rapid , and abrupt ; but there are some line passages in his play , especially in the speeches of the dark and fatal Sisters who dog the wretched matricide with remorse and terror and appalling visions of his crime , and in those of Orestes himself . At any rate , the stately , processional character of old Greek tragedy is a relief in the midst of the feverish flush and noisiness of the current forms of verse-writing . Arnold . A Dramatic History . By Cradock Newton . ( Hope and Co . )—Mr . Newton writes in the very latest fashion , and repeats that idea of which we are tired of even saying we are tired—the character of a young student involved in scepticism , and working his way to faith through the paths of love and sorrow . ' Again in these pages we have those wearisome comments on * the age' and ' the soul' which we have read in dozens of other volumes ; and once more we have to endure ( would to Heaven it were for the last time !—but that it is certain not to be ) those fearfully over-worked passages about ' the stars , ' and ' sunset , ' and ' primal dawns , ' and ' God ' s thoughts ' —or phrases to the same effect , if not precisely those . Arnold exhibits considerable imagination and power of expression , and we could quote several beautiful passages ; but why will Mr . Newton flutter his wings in the sickly , exhausted air of morbid self-analysis , instead of going into the clear daylight of honest mother Nature ? We have had enough of the poetry of the psychological dissecting-room . In God ' s name , let us have a little more of the Irving human heart , and something less of the post mortem examination . But , to show that Mr . Newton is capable of adding to the sjtock , we will quote two passages from , his ' Dramatic History' : — Hush ! ' tis the hour of worship , and earth kneels As a child to evening prayer . Above us , like , JSiloani ' s angel-troubled waters , all The starry silence is diaturUd with God . m * * • • • As , unto one who fares Prom homo at eve , dies alltho villago hum , And the laat drowsy murmur of the kine—Tlie mists of distance drown the dark ' uing fields—The homestead trees take undistinguish'd shape—The grey apirc fudeth into evening ' s grey , As , with sad vision marr'd by sudden , tears , He gazoth awhile , tlvcn gocth on his "way , And morning bringeth unto him new scenes , New dutica—likewise have I look'd my last , And B ' cck with forward feet the morning land , Nor with unmanful mourning cloud my way , Nor waste my strength on sorrow . This is very exquisite , though it is subject to the drawback of being like a well-known and beautiful passage in Dante . Poetry from Life , by C . M . K . ( Smith , Elder , and Co . ) , is a volume printed
1 after the quaint old fashion , with head and tail pieces and illustrated iiiirM letters . It contains some weak , but rather elegant , verses . Weak also are the verses of Mr . Colburn Mayrte , who publishes The T Friend—a Crimean Memory ; and Other Poems ( John Chapman ) M Mayne , however , writes in a genial strain , has a feeling for Nature and an admirer of the beautiful country in the neighbourhood of London * which alone says much in his favour . ' Such is Life . Sketches and Poems , by ' Doubleyou . ' ( Samuel Eyre ) —Tl ' writer is amusing when he confines himself to light , humorous sketches * but his sentimentalism is dreadful . He dedicates his book to Mr . Dickens ' and two Sonnets which he addresses to the great novelist exhibit his poetical powers in a rather favourable light .
Hours of Sim and Shade . Reveries in Prose and Verse , with Translations from Various European Languages . By Percy Vernon Gordon De Montgomery . ( London : Groombridge and Sons . Edinburgh : James Ho <*< 0- _! It is somewhat strange to find an author with so annny higli-soundin < r names publishing his book by subscription ; but Mr . De Montgomery does * so and a magnificent subscription list he puts forth . He likewise publishes a set of panegyrics from various fellow poets , among whom we notice the "entle * Quallon , ' . who testifies to some of Mr . De Montgomery's verses ° beb " ' musical as pebbled rills . ' Then we have several commendations of the author ' Lecture on ' the Beautiful' ( printed in the present volume ) and a perfect chorus of country clergymen and provincial editors hails this pr oduction as a new light to the age . But , while Mr . Percy Vernon Gordon de Montgomery is not above receiving—and printing—the eulogies of friends he can bestow approval on others with a lofty grace . In fact , there appear to be little accommodation bills of
puffery passin g between him and his acquaintance ; for we find the Rev . F . J . Perry and Miss Elizabeth R . Bailey , authors of books of poems , swelling the song of triumph for Mr . De Montgomery , while , in the advertisements at the end of that gentleman ' s book ( not the least singular part of this singular production ) , we discover Mr . De Montgomery patronizing the poems of the llev . F . J . Perry and Miss Elizabeth R . Bailey . Of the former we are told that ' their flow is as smooth as that of a summer stream ; ' and , to t 3 ie lady , Mr . Percy Vernon Gordon de Montgomery writes : —' ¦ ' Like to a clear fountain scattering its liquid pearls , so hath your richly-stored mind produced thoughts as pure , as bright , as fair , and you have woven them into fadeless garlands of loveliness . " A singular picture is here unfolded of the way in which , the celebrities of little provincial coteries attend reciprocal conversaziones of simpering egotism , and admire themselves in each other ' s mirrors . But we find some more strange things among the advertisements . The author lias a new volume in preparation , and he announces that advertisements for it must be forwarded to himself , as well as those intended for the second edition of the present work ; and he adds a scale of charges . Then comes an announcement of ' Poems by Quintius and Curtius , ' to be published by subscription . " Real service may be rendered the authors by subscribing to the above . Send for specimens , pronounced by a distinguished writer" ( whose name is not mentioned ) * ' to be ' in the highest degree honourable to their authors . '" Further on , we come across this notification : — "Poetry , Prose , and Acrostics written upon any Subject . Poems and Acrostics suitable for Ladies' Albums , Birth-day Presents , Presentation Books , &c , tor llalf-a-Crown in Stamps . Address , Clarence , 4 , Johnson-street , Notting-hill . "
Mr . Percy Vernon Gordon De Montgomery , by the way , lives at Mot tinghill ; and this brings us back again to him . We always wish to greet every humble struggler for a literary position with sympathy and encouragement ; but Mr . De Montgomery seems to be in no want either of praise or pudding , and he . has a tone of complacent self-conceit which provokes severe reproof . In bis Preface he says : — " L ^ n as yet but tuning my harp : the quivering chords are but vibrating witrFa feeble prelude ; yet 1 hope hereafter to boldly sweep the lyre , till it 3 tones swell into nobU , lofty strains . " In announcing his new collection of Poems , Tales , Essays , &c , he promises that * his whole energies will be devoted to the work : he will employ his
utmost eiForts to give living expressions to living thoughts , so that his book may prove worthy the perusal of all intellectual minds . ' He printsextracts from his lectures and fragments from his note-book , under the evident impression that such gems should not be lost ; and , with all this self-worship , he exhibits no trace of faculty- His ' poetry' Is the merest common-place ; and his prose is a species of copy-book sentimentalism , stuck all over with showy gauds of metaphor . Pencilling * in Poetry . A Series of Poems . By the Rev . M . Yicary . ( Arthur Hall , Virtue , and Co . )—rThese ' pencillings' are very faint indeed . There is nothing offensive in the poetry ; but it is just such as clergymen are in the habit of pouring out—copious , ilucnfc , vapid , and colourless . Still more copious is a thick volume containing twelve books of heroic coup let , and entitled The Last Judgment ( Longman ) . Very dull ana foolish are these verses ; and they have the aggravation of sonic impious ravings about eternal punishment—a state of things which the author contemplates with the sweet serenity of a bigot wanning himself at the lire which consumes his heretic opponent .
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THE ROYAL IRISH ACADEMY . An Address delivered to the President and Members of the Royal Irish Amde . my , ( it thw Meeting , February i ) , 1857 . By John Mitchell . Kcinblt 1 , A . M . Dublin : Hodges , Smith , and Co . ; London : Hcevc . Most archaeologists , adopting a mode of arrangement usual among the Danish savans , classify their Celtic collections as belonging to ( he stone , the bronze , and the iron periods . The first of these , having reference to a very remote antiquity , and to the curliest ages of liiuna . ii culture , counts cliiciy of flint arrow-heads , sharp splinters of the same substance , \ y hich untiquurians have agreed to consider us knives , and thos « curious iinp luinunts culled celts , formed of granite , black basalt , « ud other hard stone . J ' / 'j ; silicious arrow-heads exhibit , in many cases , a very high degree of lm ^ n , in others , they are merely rude fragments , chipped oil * from a larger lnuss ; and were in almost general use among barbarous tribea in every portion o
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1004 THE E E ADjB _ B ;__ . _ Jgj ^ 3 g 5 , October 17 , 1857 .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Oct. 17, 1857, page 1004, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2214/page/20/
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