What's that which Heaven to man endears, Not youth, impatient to disown Were worse than never to have known. * * Not these; but souls found here and there, Oases in our waste of sin, When everything is well and fair, And God remits his discipline, Whose sweet subdual of the world The worldling scarce can recognise; And ridicule, against it hurled, Drops with a broken sting and dies. They live by law, not like the fool, But like the bard who freely sings In strictest bonds of rhyme and rule, And finds in them not bonds but wings. The son of Mr P. G. Patmore, a well-known littérateur-author of Literary Reminiscences, and the friend of Hazlitt and Lamb-Mr Coventry Patmore was born at Woodford, in Essex, in 1823. In his twentieth year he published a small volume of Poems, some of which he has-like Tennysoncorrected or re-written. He now worthily fills the office of assistant-librarian to the British Museum, to which he was appointed in 1846. MR BULWER LYTTON, under the name of 'Owen Meredith,' has published two volumes of poetryClytemnestra, 1855, and The Wanderer, 1859. There are traces of sentimentalism and morbid feeling in the poems, but also fine fancy and graceful musical language. The poet is the only son of Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton, (and was born November 8, 1831. The paternal taste in the selection of subjects from high life, with a certain voluptuous colouring, and a pseudo-melancholy, cynical air, has been reproduced in Owen Meredith,' though Tennyson was perhaps the favourite model. The young poet, however, has original merit enough to redeem such faults, and soon, we hope, to shake them off entirely. 614 The Chess-board. My little love, do you remember, Ere we were grown so sadly wise, Those evenings in the bleak December, Curtained warm from the snowy weather, When you and I played chess together, Checkmated by each other's eyes? Ah! still I see your soft white hand Hovering warm o'er queen and knight; Brave pawns in valiant battle stand; The double castles guard the wings; The bishop, bent on distant things, Moves sidling through the fight. Our fingers touch, our glances meet, And falter, falls your golden hair This, this, at least-if this alone- Whom first we love, you know, we seldom wed. My little boy begins to babble now Upon my knee his earliest infant prayer. He has his father's eager eyes, I know; And, they say too, his mother's sunny hair. But when he sleeps and smiles upon my knee, And I can feel his light breath come and go, I think of one-Heaven help and pity me!Who loved me, and whom I loved, long ago. Who might have been-ah, what I dare not think! But blame us women not, if some appear Too cold at times; and some too gay and light. Some griefs gnaw deep. Some woes are hard to bear. Who knows the past? and who can judge us right? Ah, were we judged by what we might have been, Among the recent volumes of verse, we may mention The Lays of Middle Age, and other Poems, 1859, by JAMES HEDDERWICK, Glasgow. These Lays are the fruit of a thoughtful poetic mind, loving nature and 'whatsoever things are pure and lovely and of good report.' [Middle Age.] Fair time of calm resolve-of sober thought! How art thou changed! Once to our youthful eyes Farewell, ye blossomed hedges! and the deep Like holly leaves for a December wreath. The following beautiful lines are from a small collection of poems by MR JOHN RAMSAY, Aberdeen: My Grave. Far from the city's ceaseless hum, And heaven's fair face reflecting clear! And when the robin's boding song To soothe my shade at twilight dim! Save bending towards the house of prayer: MISS PARKES-MISS HUME-MISS PROOTERMISS CRAIG. In poetry, as in prose fiction, ladies crowd the arena, and contend for the highest prizes. We can barely enumerate some of the fair competitors. BESSIE RAYNER PARKES-daughter of Joseph Parkes, Esq., of the Court of Chancery-is author of Poems, 1855; Gabriel, 1856; The History of our Cat Aspasia, 1856; &c. The latter is a prose story, told with considerable humour, and well illustrated. As a poetess Miss Parkes is of the romantic and imaginative school of Shelley-to whose memory her poem of Gabriel is dedicated. She has been an assiduous labourer, though still young, in the cause of social amelioration and female improvement. MISS MARY C. HUME -daughter of the late Mr Joseph Hume, M.P.in 1858 published Normiton, a Dramatic Poem, with other Miscellaneous. Pieces. MISS ADELAIDE ANNE. PROCTER is author of Legends and Lyrics, a Book of Verse, 1858. This lady is the daughter of 'Barry Cornwall,' and her poetry has, without imitation, much of the paternal grace and manner. MISS ISA CRAIG, author of Poems, 1856, is a native of Edinburgh. While working as a sempstress this young lady contributed poems, reviews, and essays to the Scotsman newspaper, and was warmly befriended by Mr Ritchie, the proprietor of that journal. She afterwards removed to London, and now officiates as assistant-secretary of the Association for the Promotion of Social Science. Miss Craig was the fortunate poetess who carried off the prize (£50) for the best poem at the Crystal Palace celebration of the Burns Centenary, January 25, 1859. [A Dream of Love.] [By Miss Hume.] I dreamt that love Should steal upon the heart, like summer dawn Then, slowly spreading downward o'er the slopes At length the very plains and vales of sense My own heart fell below the standard raised [Prize Poem in Honour of Burns.] [By Miss Craig.] We hail, this morn, A century's noblest birth; A poet peasant-born, Who more of Fame's immortal dower Unto his country brings Than all her kings! His country fain would prove, By grateful honours lavished on his grave; That he so little at her hands can claim, Who unrewarded gave To her his life-bought gift of song and fame. The land he trod Hath now become a place of pilgrimage; The hoary hawthorn, wreathed and in 1850 translated the lyrical dramas of Æschylus, two volumes. Both of these versions were well received, and Mr Blackie has aided greatly in exciting a more general study of Greek in Scotland. In 1853 an excellent translation of some of the Spanish dramas of Calderon was published by Mr D. F. M'CARTHY. The translations of Bulwer Lytton, Mr Lockhart, Professor Aytoun, Theodore Martin, and others have been already mentioned, and additions have been made to this branch of our literature in the admirable cheap serial libraries of Mr H. G. Bohn. Various works in the prose literature of Germany have been correctly and ably rendered by Mrs Austin (Fragments from German Prose Writers, with Biographical Notes, and Ranke's History of the Popes), by Lady Duff Gordon (The Amber Witch), Mr Henry Taylor (The Fairy Ring), &c. SCOTTISH POETS. WILLIAM THOM. WILLIAM THOM, the 'Inverury poet' (1789-1848), was author of some sweet, fanciful, and pathetic strains. He had wrought for several years as a weaver, and, when out of employment, traversed the country as a pedler, accompanied by his wife and children. This precarious, unsettled life induced irregular and careless habits, and every effort to place the poor poet in a situation of permanent comfort and respectability failed. He first attracted notice by a poem inserted in the Aberdeen Herald, entitled The Blind Boy's Pranks; in 1844 he pub The maidens whom he loved; the songs he sung; lished a volume of Rhymes and Recollections of a The arch blue eyes Arch but for love's disguise Of Scotland's daughters, soften at his strain; To drive the ploughshare through earth's virgin soils, And sister-lands have learned to love the tongue For doth not song To the whole world belong! Is it not given wherever tears can fall, The poet-translators of this period are numerous. The most remarkable for knowledge of foreign tongues and dialects is JoHN BOWRING (now Sir John), who commenced in 1821 a large series of translations-Specimens of the Russian Poets, Batavian Anthology, Ancient Poetry and Romances of Spain, Specimens of the Polish Poets, Servian Popular Poetry, Poetry of the Magyars, Cheskian Anthology, or the Poetical Literature of Bohemia, &c. The last of these works appeared in 1832. In 1825 Dr Bowring became editor of the Westminster Review; he sat some time in parliament, and in 1854 was knighted and made governor of Hong Kong. He was the literary executor of Jeremy Bentham, and author of political treatises, original poetry, and various other contributions to literature. The original bias of Sir John Bowring seems to have been towards literature, but his connection with Bentham, and his public appointments, have chiefly distinguished his career. He is a native of Exeter, born in 1792. MR JOHN STUART BLACKIE (born in Aberdeen in 1809, and professor of Greek in the university of Edinburgh) in 1834 gave an English version of Goethe's Faust, Hand-loom Weaver. He visited London, and was warmly patronised by his countrymen and others; but returning to Scotland, he died at Dundee after a period of distress and penury. A sum of about £300 was collected for his widow and family. The Mitherless Bairn. When a' ither bairnies are hushed to their hame Yon sister, that sang o'er his saftly rocked bed, Her spirit, that passed in yon hour o' his birth, Oh! speak na him harshly-he trembles the while, DAVID VEDDER. A native of Burness, Orkney, born in 1790, MR VEDDER obtained some reputation by a volume of Orcadian Sketches, published in 1832. In 1842 he collected his poems, scattered through various periodicals, and published them in one volume. Mr Vedder filled the office of tide-surveyor, and died in Edinburgh in 1854. His Scottish songs and Norse ballads were popular in Scotland. The following piece, which Dr Chalmers was fond of quoting to his students in his theological prelections, is in a more elevated strain of poetry: The Temple of Nature. Talk not of temples-there is one And all the stars of heaven; Its floor the earth so green and fair; The dome is vast immensity All nature worships there! The Alps arrayed in stainless snow, A thousand fierce volcanoes blaze, As if with hallowed victims rare; And thunder lifts its voice in praiseAll nature worships there! The ocean heaves resistlessly, And pours his glittering treasure forth; His waves the priesthood of the seaKneel on the shell-gemmed earth, And there emit a hollow sound, As if they murmured praise and prayer; On every side 'tis holy groundAll nature worships there! * The cedar and the mountain pine, In reverence bend to Him; All nature worships there! Some of the living contributors to Scottish song may be here enumerated. ALEXANDER MACLAGAN (born at Bridgend, Perth, in 1811) published in 1841 a volume of poems; in 1849, Sketches from Nature, and other Poems; and in 1854, Ragged and Industrial School Rhymes. In one of the last letters written by Jeffrey, he praised the homely and tender verses of Maclagan for their 'pervading joyousness and kindliness of feeling, as well as their vein of grateful devotion, which must recommend them to all good minds.' JAMES BALLANTINE (born in Edinburgh in 1808) is known equally for his Scottish songs and his proficiency in the revived art of glass-painting; of the latter, the palace at Westminster and many church-windows bear testimony, while his native muse is seen in The Gaberlunzie's Wallet, 1843; The Miller of Deanhaugh; and a collected edition of his lyrics, published in 1856. ANDREW PARK (born at Renfrew in 1811) is author of several volumes of songs and poems, and of a volume of travels entitled Egypt and the East, 1857. A collected edition of his poetical works appeared in 1854. JOHN CRAWFORD (born at Greenock in 1816) published in 1850 a volume of Doric Lays, which received the commendation of Lord Jeffrey and Miss Mitford. HENRY SCOTT RIDDELL (born at 618 Sorbie, Wigtonshire, in 1798) is author of Songs of the Ark, 1831; Poems, Songs, and Miscellaneous Pieces, 1847; &c. Mr Riddell passed many of his years as a shepherd in Ettrick, but afterwards studied for the church. FRANCIS BENNOCH (born at Drumcrool, parish of Durrisdeer, Dumfriesshire, in 1812) settled early in London, and carried on business extensively as a merchant. He has written various songs and short poems, and otherwise evinced his attachment to literature and art by his services on behalf of Miss Mitford, Haydon the painter, and others. |