When the hour is ripe, and a certain dotard Pitched, no parcel that needs invoicing, To the worst side of the Mont St. Gothard, Have, to begin by way of rejoicing, None of that shooting the sky (blank cartridge), No civic guards, all plumes and lac quer, Hunting Radetzky's soul like a partridge Over Morello with squib and cracker. We'll shoot this time better game and bag 'em hot No display at the stone of Dante, But a kind of Witan-agemot ('Casa Guidi,' quod videas ante) To ponder Freedom restored to Florence, How Art may return that departed with her. Go, hated house, go trace each of the Loraine's! And bring us the days of Orgagna hither. How we shall prologuise, how we shall perorate, Say fit things upon art and historySet truth at blood-heat and the false at a zero rate, Make of the want of the age no mystery! Contrast the fructuous and sterile eras, Show, monarchy its uncouth cub licks Out of the bear's shape to the chi mæra's Pure Art's birth being still the republic's! Is this the style of thing that is to be our latest improvement on Whistlecraft, or Beppo? To us it appears to be the motley without the wit and wisdom it covered; the cap and the bells without the teeming brain and bright eye. Better grave dulness than this spasmodic folly; better the sober plodding of the patient ass along the beaten highway of prose than this insane kicking up of heels, meaningless braying, and sportive breaches of asinine manners, in the rich pasturemeadow of poetry. It was remarked above that one class of poems was to be excepted from the general censure passed upon these volumes. Those who are familiar with Mr. Browning's previous writings will hardly fail to guess that we allude to compositions in which the exhibition of character is effected by a single discourse-so liloquy, conversation, or epistle. Mr. Browning's faults appear less in this form than in any other, either because a certain laxity of style is not unbefitting the colloquial character of the subject, and the framework admits readily of considerable discursiveness, and easy passing from topic to topic; or because Mr. Browning's forte really lies rather in exhibiting the intellectual and moral characteristics of a man or an age, than in giving expression to the affections and the passions. Then, too, the loose blank verse in which these poems are generally written, favours that facility of execution which he affects. Whatever be the cause or causes, these poems certainly appear to us to be by far his best. In the collected edition of his works we prefer My Last Duchess, The Bishop orders his Tomb at St. Praxed, and The Soliloquy of the Spanish Cloister, to most of the others; and in these new volumes, Fra Lippo Lippi, The Epistle of Karshish, How it strikes a Contemporary, Bishop Blougram's Apology, Andrea del Sarto, and Cleon, give us the highest idea of Mr. Browning's great abilities, and indicate powers of character-painting, and of seizing the points of a speculative or historical question, that would render him a fine biographer or essayist. In fact it is only where perfection of form is a necessary element in success that Mr. Browning fails; and, as we have said all along, not from want of genius but of art-that is, of training, self-restraint, judgment, and labour. Unfortunately, to a lyric poet, these qualities are scarcely less important than genius. Short and perfect is the standard for lyric poetry; the occasional snoozes that are allowed to the authors of Iliads are unpardonable in Horace and Anacreon; and the general brightness, intelligence, and imagi nation, that atone in a prose writer for all kinds of faults of style and incompletenesses of thought, will go very little way to base a poet's permanent reputation. But in these character-pieces of Browning's we do not ask for more than the vigour of a sketch, and that we get. Here, for instance, Fra Lippo Lippi, caught by the police in a very questionable neighbourhood at night, recounts to the chief of the party his early experience of life, the way he became a monk, and from a monk, who could be taught nothing, a painter, who could paint anything. Thank you! my head being crammed, their walls a blank, Never was such prompt disemburdening. First, every sort of monk, the black and white, I drew them, fat and lean: then, folks at church, From good old gossips waiting to confess Their cribs of barrel-droppings, candleends, To the breathless fellow at the altarfoot, Fresh from his murder, safe and sitting there With the little children round him in a row Of admiration, half for his beard and half For that white anger of his victim's son Shaking a fist at him with one fierce arm, Signing himself with the other because of Christ (Whose sad face on the cross sees only this After the passion of a thousand years) Till some poor girl, her apron o'er her head Which the intense eyes looked through, came at eve On tip-toe, said a word, dropped in a loaf, Her pair of ear-rings and a bunch of flowers The brute took growling, prayed, and then was gone. I painted all, then cried 'tis ask and have Choose, for more's ready!' * You be judge! You speak no Latin more than I, belike However, you're my man, you've seen the world -The beauty and the wonder and the power, The shapes of things, their colours, lights and shades, Changes, surprises, and God made it all! -For what? do you feel thankful, ay or no, For this fair town's face, yonder river's line, The mountain round it and the sky above, Much more the figures of man, woman, child, 115 Which is the same thing. Art was given for that God uses us to help each other so, We do not think any other of the poems of this class equal on the whole to this, but they are all interesting, and thoroughly well worth reading. And now, in closing Mr. Browning's volumes we hope neither he nor any of our readers will for a moment mistake the tone and intention of our remarks. If we valued Mr. Browning's abilities at a lower rate, we certainly should have treated his faults with more leniency, and should have had no difficulty in filling our pages with admirable passages, and some few almost perfect poems. Compared with ninetynine of a hundred volumes of contemporary poetry, these of Mr. Browning's are a treasury of beauty, and sense, and feeling; and it is just because we feel how great Mr. Browning's capacity is still-though his vices of style have the strength of indurate habits-that we think criticism worth bestowing upon him. There is not more than one poet of the present day whose genius is superior to his. If Mr. Tennyson is not to be brought into comparison with him, it is, however, mainly because he respects himself and respects the public, and is too grateful to his Master for the gifts he has bestowed upon him to play tricks with himself. He gives the world of his best, and the world honours him, and will go _on_to honour him increasingly. If Mr. Browning covets his fame and usefulness, he must show the same sensitive artistic conscience, which is after all but acting on the principle that great talents are given men for the glory of God and the good of mankind. And if he wants higher authority for this recommendation than ours, or than his own best sense upon the matter, let him take to heart what England's second greatest dramatist said of her greatest dramatist and poet; and not scorn to follow advice drawn by Ben Jonson from Shakspeare's example. He probably knows the lines well enough, but they deserve to be constantly repeated, and written in letters of gold round the cornice of every poet's study: 'Yet must I not give Nature all thy My gentle Shakspere, must enjoy a part. he Who casts to write a living line, must sweat (Such as thine are) and strike the second heat Upon the Muses' anvil; turn the same Or, for the laurel, he may gain a scorn, G. B.-T. C. C. SCOTCH UNIVERSITY REFORM.* THE Scotch Universities seem to have enjoyed a higher reputation in the early part of this century than they do at present. Their former fame was due in part to the eminence of individual professors, and in part to the fact of their teaching being more in harmony with the intellectual life of that time than the system of studies then pursued at the English universities. This reputation reflected its lustre on a later period, and the country for a long time remained satisfied with the efficiency of its academic institutions. Of late years however a desire for important reforms has sprung up, both within the universities themselves and outside their walls, among persons who are keenly alive to the necessity of raising the tone of the higher education in Scotland. The theological differences in the country have helped to draw attention to this subject, and one great result has already been gained by the abolition of religious tests, which were formerly imposed upon all professors. The discussions about English University Reform contributed in some degree to rouse a similar spirit in the north; and the agitation about Scotch grievances' has drawn attention to the deficiencies of the universities, at least in the way of endowments. But the practical importance of the subject has been forced upon public attention by the results of the late examination for the Indian Civil Service. The Scotch universities when for the first time brought into competition with the sister institutions of England and Ireland, did not maintain an equal place. Yet the examination was calculated to favour a student who had been successfully trained in a wide range of studies, and in whom those general literary and speculative interests had been developed, which the northern universities are supposed to foster. It has been urged as an excuse for this failure that Scotch candidates were at a disadvantage, owing to the fact that none of the examiners were selected from the northern universities. We do not believe that the result was materially affected by this circumstance. Whatever were the merits or defects of the papers set on English history and literature, on classics, on mental philosophy, &c., they certainly appear to have been quite free from the fault of reflecting the peculiarities of On the Advancement of Learning in Scotland; a Letter to the Right Hon. the Lord Provost and Town Council of Edinburgh, by John Stuart Blackie, Professor of Greek. Edinburgh, 1855. 1856.] The Decay of Learning in Scotland. any system of teaching. Yet it seems only fair that on a future occasion the Scotch universities should be represented in the examination, as well as those of England and Ireland. But we think that those have done more wisely who, instead of suggesting excuses for Scotch failure, or trying to throw discredit on the whole principle of examinations, have sought a remedy for the evil in a proposed reform of the universities. The question has been ably and temperately discussed in most of the leading newspapers in Edinburgh. An association has been formed for the extension of the universities,' which besides containing the names of some of the most eminent members of the Scotch bar, and of the Scotch collegiate bodies, has received the adhesion of two of the most illustrious men of the present day-Mr. Carlyle and Mr. Macaulay. The association, in its printed circular, calls attention to the Indian examinations, and expressly states, that in the present condition of education it is extremely unlikely that young men, who are educated in the universities of Scotland, will be able in general to compete successfully with their rivals from other universities.' The question has moreover been stamped as one of public interest, by being made the subject of a leading article in The Times, of Thursday, Nov. 22nd. We propose briefly to discuss the subject, as we do not entirely agree either with the views announced in the circular of the 'association,' nor altogether with those eloquently and humorously expressed by Professor Blackie, in the pamphlet, the title of which we have prefixed to this article. But on one point we wish to guard ourselves against misconstruction. We regard the throwing open of the Indian appointments as a fitting occasion, but not as the main ground or reason for directing attention to the present state of academic teaching in Scotland. If we thought, as some seem to think, that there was any danger of our universities renouncing their true, or at least their ideal office of fostering the speculative intellect of the 117 country, and sinking into mere training seminaries for the attainment of valuable prizes, we should regard the throwing open of these appointments as a great evil instead of being a great blessing to the cause of education. But the fear that some persons entertain of the success of what is called 'cramming' for examinations, implies an unworthy distrust of the intellectual qualifications of examiners. So long as they are appointed from the élite of the different universities in the country, we have full confidence that well-disciplined faculty, originality, and power of mind, good sense, taste, and general culture will tell more in favour of a candidate than accumulated stores of heterogeneous information. The belief in the powers of cramming' is chiefly found among persons who have had no experience in university examinations, or in those who, having tried its effects unsuccessfully in their own cases, attribute their rivals' superiority to a more efficient prosecution of the same process. The Scotch universities may look to their chances of obtaining their share of the prizes open to the country by producing better educated students-a result more likely to be obtained by a more thorough system of teachingas distinguished from merely lecturing on-the existing branches of study, than by founding new professorial chairs for all the special subjects required by the examination. Professor Blackie deserves the greatest credit and the warmest thanks of all university reformers, for the boldness with which he tells his countrymen things, which, if true, must be extremely disagreeable to many of his readers. We heartily agree with many of his views and suggestions; we differ from him on some questions, and are inclined to put great stress on certain points not touched by him at all. In the first place, he seems to us to lay too much stress on the advancement of special learning, as being the proper function of a university. We do not sympathize very strongly in his wish to find a qualified professor of phlebotomy, in a person who will explain to you the whole theory and history of blood-letting, from the precepts of earliest Egyptian drugmen in preHomeric times, to the dietetic protests of Erasistratus of Ceos, in the third century before Christ,' &c. Yet, though regarding well-trained power of mind as more important than learning, we agree with him that it is not creditable to the Scotch universities that the few men who have done something to support our national reputation for scholarship and research are not academical men at all.' We believe that his own translation of Eschylus, and the writings of Professor Ramsay, of Glasgow, might be mentioned in qualification of this statement; but the general truth must be admitted, that the Scotch universities, whatever they may have done or may be doing by teaching, have of late contributed very little by writing to the advancement of learning and scholarship. Nor have they maintained their ancient reputation by the production of original works on Mental philosophy. The only complete work lately emanating from a Scotch university, that testifies to the world that the countrymen of Hume and Adam Smith have not lost the faculty of abstract speculation that once distinguished them, is The Institutes of Metaphysic, by Professor Ferrier, of St. Andrew's. While we do not think that the production of original or standard works is the special function of a university, yet their entire absence is indicative of some want of vigour or enthusiasm on the part of professors. The delight in extending the limits of knowledge, and the impulse to communicate discovery, will not in general be satisfied with the limited audience of a class-room. Still a university, though failing to promote any special departments of learning, may do its work efficiently by imparting a good general education to its students, and thereby elevating the tone of thought, feeling, and character throughout the country. Do the Scotch universities in this respect satisfy our demands upon them? If we give but a qualified affirmation to this question, we must emphatically state that the cause of partial failure is not any want of ability or of con scientious labour on the part of the teachers, nor is it the absence of industry, zeal, and attention on the part of a very considerable portion of the students. We must answer, that if there are within the universities a considerable number of students of high attainments, wide and accurate knowledge, and liberal culture, there are no means of publicly ascertaining their existence. While the teaching of the different colleges of Oxford and Cambridge is constantly tested by examinations, in which the pupils of different Tutors compete with one another, and are ranked according to their merits by an independent tribunal of examiners, the teaching of each of the Scotch Professors is tested solely by himself. The number of graduates is small in comparison with that of the students attending the universities in the examination for degrees, each professor examines his own students on his own subject; he is the sole judge of their attainments and of the success of his own labours. The public may know that a professor is a popular and eloquent lecturer; he may at the same time be a sound, thorough, and successful teacher, but there are really no means of ascertaining this, and no motive, except his own sense of duty and love of his vocation, to induce him to aim at the reality rather than the appearance of good teaching. Not only is there no adequate test of successful study, but there is also no sufficient encouragement to the student. He can look neither to emolument, nor to recognised honour, nor to a good start in his profession as the reward of his labours. The highest testimony to his merit is a gold medal or a book, generally of showy binding and uninteresting contents,-which is hardly the kind of recognition calculated to make him feel that he has passed beyond the state of a schoolboy. There is further little or nothing in the system of the Scotch universities capable of calling forth and directing that concentration of attention, memory, and thought, implied in grasping a subject as a whole, and mastering it minutely in its details, which many hold, and we think wisely, to be the most |