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stricken Indian station. Indeed, one of the best features of this book The BLUE RIBBON. By the Author MR. FARRAR'S SCHOOL TALES:

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SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 1874.

LITERATURE

them surprisingly dainty and poetical, and
weaving into the tissue much quaint and humor-
ous reflection and observation. Quitting the
ordinary machinery of fable, the birds and
beasts, whose actions illustrate or caricature
human frailties, he gives us, like Erasmus
Darwin, the loves of the plants. Alone among
things, the thistle finds no place for itself in
nature. Only in the ditch can it obtain the
rest for which it sighs. It is

Flung out of the field as soon as found there,
and "banisht the garden." Sorely is it tempted
by the sight of the

Fables in Song. By Robert Lord Lytton.
2 vols. (Blackwood & Sons.)
FABLE has not been a favourite form of com-
position with modern poets. Moore's 'Fables
for the Holy Alliance' affords, perhaps, the
only instance in the present century of the
successful use of apologue as a means of pro-
pounding new views or satirizing current
opinions. The vogue of these was short,
Fresh green meadow with flow'rets pied.
however, and the present generation knows If only it could slip in quietly, and find in
little or nothing concerning them. Lord
"the rippled damp of the deep grass
Lytton's employment of fable may, accord-place in which it could escape observation :-
ingly, be regarded as an experiment. It is
so far successful that a primitive form of com-
position proves pliable and serviceable in the
author's hands, and that volumes which are
principally didactic or satirical in purpose
remain thoroughly pleasant and agreeable to
read.

That lesson of the vanity of earthly things which, since the days of Solomon, has remained a favourite with the satirist and the moralist, has been adopted by Lord Lytton as the basis of his teaching. There is more cynicism, however, than pathos in the treatment, less sadness over man's struggle against the inevitable than laughter over his impotent attempts to direct the agencies by which he is surrounded. The words are Solomon's, but the voice is that of Voltaire. "Have you got an immortal soul?" some one, according to Voltaire, asked of the peacock. "Of course I have," answered the bird, "look at my tail, it is there." This idea re-appears in Lord Lytton's poems in a variety of shapes Now it is the nettle, which sees in an accidental recurrence of deposits favourable to its growth a proof that Urticarian Jupiter shapes all things "for the best in the best of all possible worlds"; and now the drag, impressed with the shortsightedness of mortals who fail to recognize in it the genius and soul of the waggon. All the wellknown characters of past fable re-appear with their old characteristics. The fox, the ass, the lion, the bull, and the ape typify the qualities with which they have been associated since the days of Æsop, and inculcate a lesson put by Shakspeare into the mouth of Isabella, that

Man, proud man,

Drest in a little brief authority,
Most ignorant of what he's most assur'd,

His glassy essence, like an angry ape,
Plays such fantastic tricks before high heaven
As make the angels weep; who, with our spleens,
Would all themselves laugh mortal.

It may be urged that the limits of fable are narrower than those of most branches of art, and that it is inadequate and inappropriate as a medium for expressing the deeper feelings

or desires of our nature.

Like the proverb, it has usually been employed to present the experience of the many. That its power does not end here, might, however, be proved from the book before us, the poems in which Lord Lytton has abandoned mockery for a gentler feeling being the most attractive in

the volumes.

The Thistle' is, perhaps, the most ideal and the most poetical of the fables. Upon it the author has lavished the full treasure of his fancy, studding it over with conceits, many of

a

Then the little Thistle atiptoe stood,
All in a tremble, sharp yet shy.
The vagabond's conscience was not good.
He had been so often a trespasser sly,
He had been so often caught by the law,
He had been so often beaten before:
He was still so small if a spade he saw,
He mutter'd a Paternoster o'er,
And cower'd. So, cautiously thrusting out
Here a timorous leaf, there a tiny sprout,
And then dropping a seed, and so waiting anon
For a chance lift got from the wind-still on,
With a hope that the sun and the breeze might
please

And feels his way with a fluttering heart.
To be helpful and kind-by degrees he frees

In the ditch there were heaps of stones to pass.
They scratch'd him, and tore him, and made him

smart,

And ruin'd his leaves. But those leaves, alas,
Already so tatter'd and shatter'd were,
That to keep them longer was worth no care;
And at last he was safe in the meadow; and there
"Ah, ha!" sigh'd the Thistle; "so far, so well!
If I can but stay where I am, I shall fare

Blithe as the bee in the blossom's bell.
How green it is here, and how fresh, and fair!
And, oh, what a pleasure henceforth to dwell
In this blest abode ! to have done with the road,
And got rid of the ditch! Ah, who can tell

The rapture of rest to the wanderer's breast?"

The triumph of the intruder is brief. When-
ever he ventures to put forth

A spruce little pair of leaflets new
and don a "fine white ruff," the farmer
detects him, and with his foot stamps out
his beauty and his promise. Firm through
all trouble and difficulty, the thistle holds
his place however, and in the end, when
Spring and Summer are past, and the After-
math is mown, the intruder is left alone.
The "pensive beasts" that graze "the twice-
cropt grass" neglect him, and alone and
uncheered he blossoms in a glory of purple
and gold, and "all flowers of the field" are
"alive in one." The moral of the apologue is
in the concluding lines—

The Thistle laugh'd, greeting the earth and heaven,
And he blossom'd his whole heart out of his bosom.

And all was forgotten, save all that was given.
That the mere permission to exist is a boon
deserving grateful acknowledgment is the
comfortable assumption it conveys. In the
narrative portion of the poem there is little
that is especially valuable, except a few hu-
morous passages, and a certain breezy fresh-
ness that pervades the entire composition. In
the prelude, however, lies the chief beauty.
The description of the revivification of the
The description of the revivification of the
flowers, when the first sweet impulses of Spring
are felt, is thoroughly charming :-

The green grass-blades aquiver

With joy at the dawn of day (For the most inquisitive ever

Of the flowers of the field are they)

Lisp'd it low to their lazy
Neighbours that flat on the ground,
Dandelion and daisy,

Lay still in a slumber sound :
But soon, as a ripple of shadow
Runs over the whisperous wheat,
The rumour ran over the meadow
With its numberless fluttering feet:
It was told by the water-cresses
To the brooklet that, in and out
Of his garrulous green recesses,

For gossip was gadding about:
And the brooklet, full of the matter,
Spread it abroad with pride;
But he stopp'd to gossip and chatter,
And turn'd so often aside,

That his news got there before him

Ere his journey down was done;

And young leaves in the vale laugh'd o'er him
We know it! THE SNOW IS GONE!

Had the whole been written with as much delicacy and grace of conception as these lines, the poem would rank as a masterpiece of pastoral poetry. Unfortunately, the verses which immediately follow are strained and artificial. A description of the tree-tops swaying together, and their imaginary conversation, rises near the level of the passage last quoted. It is followed by some flower pictures, which, in their union of fancy and humour, remind us of Hood's exquisite lyric, called Flowers.' The description of the anemone, which follows, embodies a beautiful idea :

6

'Tis the white anemone, fashion'd so
Like to the stars of the winter snow,
First thinks, "If I come too soon, no doubt

I shall seem but the snow that hath staid too long
So 'tis I that will be Spring's unguess'd scout,'
And wide she wanders the woods among.
Then, from out of the mossiest hiding-places,
Smile meek moonlight-colour'd faces

Of pale primroses puritan,

In maiden sisterhoods demure;
Each virgin flowret faint and wan

With the bliss of her own sweet breath so pure.

The fancy concerning the daisy is also pretty:

The daisy awakes And opens her wondering eyes, yet red About the rims with a too long sleep. It is less poetical, however, than that in the poem of Hood to which we have referred. One stanza of this, for the sake of the comparison suggested, we must be permitted to

quote:

The lily is all in white, like a saint,
And so is no mate for me;

And the daisy's cheek is tipped with a blush,
She is of such low degree.

Jasmine is sweet, and has many loves,
And the broom 's betroth'd to the bee ;-
But I will plight with the dainty rose,
For fairest of all is she.

it is because although it can scarcely, as far
If we have dwelt long upon 'The Thistle,'
as the workmanship of the whole is concerned,
be accounted the most artistic in the book, it
contains the most poetical passages.
When dealing with natural pictures, Lord
In 'The
Lytton is ordinarily at his best.
a good
Misanthrope and the Bird' there is

line,

The chill wind chattering on the rainy wold. Criticism might, perhaps, cavil at the employment of the word "chattering," as failing to convey the sound intended as it is conveyed in Mr. Swinburne's celebrated line,-

With lisp of leaves and ripple of rain. or in a fine passage from Keats, which is recalled,―

Undescribed sounds,

That come a-swooning over hollow grounds,
And wither drearily on barren moors.

No similar hint of disapproval need trouble the enjoyment to be derived from another passage in the same poem :

Lo you! like love, that changes life, all round,
Above, beneath, the Spring was everywhere;
Troubling the sleep of Nature with mad hopes.
All things of joy and beauty, long represt,
Broke out in revel, riotously sure
Of May's delirious promise.

'A Philosopher' is, perhaps, the cleverest of the poems, wholly satirical in purpose, which illustrate the tendency of mankind to form notions ludicrously exaggerated of their own importance. The windmill in this plays the part of the fly on the wheel in the old fable, or that of the peacock in Voltaire's story. It is he, he feels, who sets the wind in motion. Its satire, though ingenious, is diffuse, however, and its application is not diffuse, however, and its application is not especially novel or valuable. Here, however, as elsewhere, fancy comes to the aid of irony; and the description of the birds, their general adoration, and their theories concerning the windmill as a demi-god of their own species, reconcile us to the want of concentration.

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underneath the sun

Naught is eternal save Oblivion,in the song of the clouds, introduced in The Blue Mountains,' are neither particularly new nor altogether true. Here, and in some other instances, Lord Lytton falls into the most conspicuous of his father's defects.

For the children of Never and Ever we are, And our home is Beyond and our name is Afar, are lines which have little in them beyond prodigal employment of capital letters.

It is but natural that the influence of a

father like the late Lord Lytton should be perceptible in the writings of his son. For work which should now evince signs of maturity, however, these poems show very strongly the influence of living writers upon the mind of the author. With plagiarism, conscious or direct, in his 'Fables in Song,' we do not charge Lord Lytton. As we read, however, memories of M. Victor Hugo, the Laureate, Mr. Swinburne, and other writers, come constantly before us. Mr. Swinburne's influence is apparently the strongest. Is it possible to mistake the source to which we

owe such a line as

or

A rapturous river of gleams and glooms;

from the personal impressions of a traveller who has actually visited the localities described, to summarize the influence upon the Greeks of the physical conditions of the country which connect the geography and history of its peoples, and (the principal feature throughout the lectures) to suggest the connexion of the geography, mythology, and etymology of the Greek names of places.

In his opening lecture Mr. Tozer draws attention to the method in which he proposes to treat his subject, viz., “to describe the

physical features of the country, and the works of man upon it, as they appeared to the Greeks themselves, as they influenced their history, and, what is most important of all, as they affected the national character and mind."

With the exception of a meagre description of the public buildings in Athens, and the briefest possible allusions to the cities of Lycosura, Tiryns, Mycenae, Olympia, and Corinth, &c., "the works of men," and the noble relics of Hellenic architecture, are almost ignored in this volume; but the remainder of the programme is carried out in a scholarly and workmanlike manner.

The smallness of the area occupied by the Hellenic peninsula is first pointed out, and it

There is a characteristically pleasant philosophy All the bliss that was beauty, the life that was laughter, is compared with the other peninsulas in the

in the idea that

The birds, whatever themselves may call
Their flighty notions, are heathens quite.
Heathens, and not monotheists at all!

But this, tho' of course it is far from right,
Is yet a defect which they compensate
By adoring a number of gods so great
That perchance it comes in the end to the same,
And adoration suffers no loss.

'Fiat Justitia' has a pleasant humour, and a moral deeper than it at first appears, which is shadowed forth in two lines:

Nature mocks

Man's passions with pathetic paradox. 'Pain' is a specimen of another class of apologues, in which the author attempts, with moderate success, to go beyond the limits ordinarily assigned the fable. In this Satan, hearing cries of bitter anguish, finds a little "plump-cheeked cherub of the pit" torturing a wounded man by dropping rose-leaves on his wounds. The Prince of Darkness presents himself in a new character when jealous of rivalry in torment; he gives the sufferer rest, and turns away half-sighing. With this may be classed 'Knowledge and Power,' in which a man, searching for the North Pole, finds a compass moved by a similar desire, takes it with him, and, goaded by its voice endlessly urging him forward, dies in the regions of eternal snow, tortured to the last by the reproaches of his companion. The Blue Mountains; or, the Far' illustrates tenderly the view that the desirable is always the remote and unattainable. 'Master at Home' has some very pleasing verses, in which the snail is addressed by his Spanish name, Caracol.

We cannot treat of the sixty fables comprised in the two volumes. The chief defect is want of concentration. An idea is hunted to death, and a thought which swells itself out, and adorns itself in splendid attire, does not always seem, when stripped of its externals, very valuable or imposing. Many passages are artificial in style, and there is a veneer of originality about much of the philosophizing so thin that it scarcely serves its purpose. Such lines as—

Ere the frolic fields were bereft and bare.

Or, again

Of blushes that burn, and of brows that shine With passion of purple and glory of gold.? These passages occur, it should be noted, upon following pages. How far choice of subjects and epithets from predecessors is to be justified by the precedent of the birds, we know not. Birds choose everywhere the materials for their nests, and the nest is theirs. Taking up this parable, Lord Lytton says:

Such things I found, by passers-by

As rubbish from the roadside thrust;
Which poets, seeking poesy,

Disdain'd to rescue from the dust.
Yet here they are-not rubbish now
I fain would hope. Do critics stare,
Reserve applause, and rub the brow?

Oh that a little bird I were !

These volumes will neither add greatly to Lord Lytton's reputation nor detract from it. If there are in them no idylls such as 'Love Fancies,' and other early compositions over which the student of poetry loves to linger, there is much earnest work and much solid accomplishment. Were it only on the strength of natural descriptions such as we have quoted, the book would deserve a welcome. It has, however, other qualities of lucidity, humour, and polish, which will be none the less accept able to the reader that they are directly transmitted to the present Lord Lytton from his predecessor.

GREECE.

Lectures on the Geography of Greece. By the Rev. H. F. Tozer. (Murray.) THIS volume consists of a series of ten lectures, delivered at Oxford in Michaelmas Term, 1872, by Mr. Tozer, of Exeter College, who is favourably known to the public as the author of 'Researches in the Highlands of Turkey.'

Putting mere topography aside, Mr. Tozer arouses the interest of his audience by bringing them face to face with the Homeric scenery his object is, he tells us, to give the student a real conception of the face of the country

Mediterranean. We next have the Homeric geography discussed, which is referred by the lecturer to the eastern basin of the Mediterranean, and a notice of the two grand geographical authorities of the ancients, Strabo and Pausanias: the accuracy of the last-named writer, who was a thorough archæologist, has been fully confirmed by the latest antiquarian discoveries, especially by the inscription to Eubulides, found in the excavation of the Sacred Way at Athens. The first lecture concludes with a well-merited tribute to the patient researches of that "model traveller," Col. Leake, to whose remarkable geographical insight we owe the identification of the R. Styx and the site of the hexastyle temple of Jupiter at Olympia.

The primary physical features of Hellas, form the subject of the second lecture. In this chapter Mr. Tozer dwells upon the elevation and rocky character of the mountain chains which ramify through the whole country and form part of every view; and he is thoroughly in his element when he comes to their nomen

clature. Next we have the sea, the all-pervading element which determined the especially maritime character of the Greeks, its navigation, harbours, islands and promontories, and last, not least, their etymology.

In the third lecture the rivers of Greece are

shown to be of but secondary importance, consisting of no navigable waters, but perennial streams and torrents, whose characteristics are so well pictured throughout Homeric literature, and which have given rise to so many enchanting and fanciful legendary myths. Connected with this subject we have the sacred fountains, springs, lakes, waterfalls, gorges, and the catavothras. With regard to these last Mr. Tozer remarks on the peculiar cavernous nature of the mountain limestone formation, which gives rise to these subterranean outlets from the lakes in the elevated valleys, such as those well-known instances, the lakes of Janina, Pheneus, Stymphalus, and the Copaic lake, this last being accompanied by those stupendous archaic

tunnels and artificial shafts. Mr. Tozer, however, does not allude to the most remarkable of all catavothras, viz., that mysterious series of submarine caverns at the entrance of the harbour at Argostoli in Cephallenia, into which the sea continually rushes with sufficient current to turn the wheel of a mill which formerly stood at the entrance of one of them.

Mr. Tozer thus describes the imposing gorge of the Acheron in Thesprotia, whence, according to Pausanias, Homer derived the idea of his "Inferno":

"It is the deepest and darkest ravine in Greece, and between its precipitous rocks for the distance of from two to three miles the white waters of the stream roar along through chasms and clefts which they have worn away in the course of ages, leaving no room even for the path which has to be carried along the sides of the cliffs far above, in some places as much as 500 feet above the water. But, notwithstanding these awe-inspiring features, it is at the same time a most romantic spot, for the sides of this passage are, for the most part, richly clothed with foliage, trees and shrubs clinging to every available point, whilst among so much luxuriance the light grey rocks peep out in the most enchanting manner. Sometimes nothing intervenes between you and the stream but a few trees which have fastened their roots in the fissures of the rocks, and the dull roar of the surging waters may be heard, softened by the distance, while, above, the mountain summits tower at a great elevation on either side."

"The trees, shrubs, and plants were SO fruitful a source of nomenclature," says Mr. Tozer, "that even if other information were wanting, we might almost reconstruct the Flora of the country from the names of places." In lecture five, we are presented with the general classical and "aristocratic" aspect of the landscape, and its indirect influence on the Hellenic mind, and the effect of the physical conformation of the Greek peninsula upon the politics of its habitants. the politics of its habitants. The isolation of the number of separate unities, so distinct from one another in customs and constitution, is the natural consequence of the narrow valleys and enclosed basins into which Greece is divided; although this isolation was in some degree qualified by the means of transit the sea afforded, and also by the varied tem

perature, which caused the time of harvest to be different in different districts, and thus necessitated an interchange of products. The stone of the country being plentiful and excellent for building, was an early encouragement to city life, whilst the steep places and mountain spurs were, as Aristotle remarked, an oligarchical or monarchical element, as affording facilities for building strongholds: and, again, the counteracting element of democracy was to be found in the maritime population. The sixth, seventh, and eighth lectures are topographical, and in them we find a comprehensive survey of the Northern, Central and In contrast to this turn to the Vale of Southern districts respectively. Athens and Tempe :

"Its features are soft and beautiful from the broad winding river, the luxuriant vegetation, and the glades that at intervals open out at the foot of the cliffs, which distinguish it from ordinary passes, and enable us to recognize in it the Tempe

of the poets. Its length is about four miles and a half, and throughout it is flanked by lofty rocks of grey limestone finely tinted with red; these are highest towards the middle of the pass, where the precipices in the direction of Olympus descend steeply, so as completely to bar the passage on that side; but those which descend from Ossa are the loftiest, rising in many places not less than 1,500 feet from the valley. The plane-trees which shade the banks of the Peneius along its tranquil reaches are especially conspicuous for their growth, and from among them, here aud there copious streams of clear water gush out through beds of spreading fern."

The fourth lecture is principally geological, and the chief sources of the moderate mineral wealth possessed by Greece are described as known to the ancients, whilst the propinquity of Greece to a volcanic centre is shown by the frequent earthquakes and eruptions which have occurred in past and modern times. In connexion with this subject, we have the climate and vegetation, of which last the different zones can be traced in the most impressive manner :—

"Thus the shore of Mount Athos is fringed with myrtles, and its dells with luxuriant planetrees; as you mount its steep slopes, you are embowered in an undergrowth of arbutus, ilex and branching heather, frequently festooned with creepers, or interspersed in the clearings with vineyards and groups of dark cypresses; but above the height of 1,500 feet, the region of chesnuts and other forest trees is entered, and the ridge of the peninsula is found to be thickly clothed with beeches. Still higher on the great peak itself, the beech forests are again surmounted by pines, and from these the bare summit emerges, on the sides of which are found the violet and the pansy, and on its crest, tiny saxifrages and other Alpine plants."

its buildings are briefly noticed, and a passing allusion to the ethnology of the Peloponnesus, which is compared

"to the purse of a net, for the tribes that enter Greece from the north are pressed onward by subsequent waves of migration until they reach

this southernmost district, from which they have no means of escape. Consequently, the Peloponnese has always contained fragments, so to speak, of a great variety of races. In ancient times, Herodotus enumerates seven as occupying the as occupying the country; and, at the present day, besides the large admixture of Slavonic blood which flows in the veins of the modern Greek inhabitants, arising from the settlement amongst them, during the middle ages, of various tribes of that stock, we find there Wallachs and Albanians; and in one instance, that of the Tzaconians, an ancient tribe seems to have preserved its individuality and its dialect from the hoariest antiquity."

We could wish for more information as to the affiliation of the modern Mainotes to these Tzaconians or Eleuthero-Laconians, that celebrated race of wreckers on the shores of the Kolokythian gulf. If the relics of old customs observed at the birth, death, and marriage by some of these ancient tribes were carefully collected, some light as to their origin might be obtained.

In a

The two last lectures are mythological and philological. In the former we are shown how the main source of Greek mythology is to be found in figurative language. certain stage of development the metaphorical expressions in the language of the Aryan races have been misunderstood, and become myths, the allegories personified, the persons conceived of as real persons, and their acts as real acts. A certain correspondence has been traced between the Sanscrit and Greek myths, which will probably be found to have descended from a common source. In Greece, a land specially adapted to polytheism, these myths were localized, and certain sacred centres of mythology obtained pre-eminence at

at an early period, such as Olympus, Dodona, Delphi, Eleusis, Tempe, &c., while each principal city also had its own particular fund of mythical lore. Certain forms of worship, in like manner, were associated with particular features of the country. The lofty mountaintops, for instance, were dedicated to Zeus, while strange rites were attached to the promontories, and grottoes were associated with the nymphs. A remarkable growth of myths, again, is that in which the peculiarities of the country are presented in the form of a genealogy, as in the case of the early kings of Sparta. So also we find the idea of the wild forces of nature embodied in the struggles of the Gods and Titans, and the feats of prowess of Hercules connected with changes in the face of the country; and, finally, in many instances the myths from various sources have been so interlaced with one another as to become indistinguishable.

In his last lecture Mr. Tozer lays down the axiom that no place, under ordinary circumstances, receives a name arbitrarily, or without some assignable reason; and that the onomatopoeic faculty was possessed in the highest degree by the imaginative Greeks, is evident from their special ingenuity in drawing their titles from the most varied and recondite sources. In the brief space of a lecture these etymologies have of necessity been superficially treated; but, nevertheless, the lecturer has contrived to condense within a narrow compass a vast amount of informa tion, and gives the ascertained results of latest modern investigation, at the same time taking an independent course in discussing questions on which difference of opinion preEtymologicum Magnum,' to Benseler, Burvails. Full references have been given to the sian, E. and G. Curtius, &c., the authority being quoted in all important names, and those whose etymologies are doubtful; so that the student can easily pursue the subject at pleasure.

Dr. Müller's map, which is prefixed to these lectures, might have easily been better adapted for their illustration, had some of the names of rivers, lakes, mountains, &c., alluded to been added: for instance, we look in vain for rivers Styx, Crathis, Erasinus, &c., the lakes of Pheneus, Stymphalus, &c., Mt. Chaon, Argolis, and other names. The orthography of the map also varies somewhat slightly from that in the text: Peneus for Peneius, &c. For the student who has access to a large classical atlas this matters but little; but to outside laymen these trifling omissions are, perhaps, vexatious; and as the map is lettered for an index, the index itself might have been lettered also to correspond.

THE FRENCH ROMANTIC SCHOOL. Histoire du Romantisme, suivie d'une Etude Par sur la Poésie Française, 1830-1868. Théophile Gautier. (Paris, Charpentier.) IF the story of a great literary revival ever deserved to be told, it is that of the Romantic School; and no writer could have told it better than the late illustrious Théophile Gautier. The word "Romantisme" was adopted for want of a more expressive phrase; but it is inadequate to describe the noble movement in which Victor Hugo, Lamartine, Auguste Barbier, Béranger, Prosper Mérimée, Alfred de Musset, Alexandre Dumas, Alfred de Vigny, Sainte-Beuve, and

the others whose names crowd under the pen, took each an independent part. No one trenched on another man's property; no one was compelled to clothe old ideas in a new garb, as most French writers do nowa-days; all possessed ideas of their own. Balzac wrote his 'Comédie Humaine,' and was

as unrivalled in the study of psychology as in the description of the manners of his epoch; Théophile Gautier astonished his contemporaries by the precocity of his genius, Auguste Barbier gave utterance to his revolutionary tendencies, while Victor Hugo commenced a glorious career; and in every variety of literature the competitors showed an absence of jealousy peculiarly characteristic of great times. This movement, which, like all revolutions, whether literary or political, was at tended by exaggerations and excesses, is still regarded with animosity by pedagogic worshippers of faded deities, just as the French Revolution is still considered by a few the most heinous crime in European history; but, happily, its results have been good, and even the readers of Racine and Boileau do not think of laughing at 'Hernani,' or of wincing at the "monstrosities" of 'Mademoiselle de Maupin.' The state of things in 1827 was deplorable. Poetry was dead, or nearly so; the Comédie Française was in the hands of vapid imitators of Corneille and Racine; the expression of thought was impeded by the worst possible mannerism. In fact, the time of the French Restoration was the pet time of the Académie Française, which rejects Taine for an obscure professor. David was the classical painter; and those who used more vivid tints were accused of painting with a "drunken broom." But from the instant politics ceased to be paramount in the public mind, the appearance of things changed as if by magic; a new current of life seemed to run in the veins of youth; the general feeling was one of resurrection from a protracted torpor. "It was," says Théophile Gautier, "as if the long lost great secret had been found again; and it was really so; poetry had been dug up from her grave."

But we must needs abandon general considerations to follow the historian. Théophile Gautier describes the first beginnings of the change with the youthful enthusiasm of one who took a prominent part in the triumph of the new school, and with the verve of his best days, although the majority of these pages were penned at the most unhappy epoch in his life. The tone of the account is what it ought to be, one of personal reminiscence; and it should be noticed that Gautier has devoted himself to the back-scene history of Romanticist struggles rather than to a general examination of the movement-an omission the reader will find repaired in the study on Romantic poetry, which brings the book to a conclusion. Meanwhile, he is full of anecdotes, souvenirs, pithy remarks, descriptions of men things:

and

"What a splendid time!" he exclaims; "Walter Scott was at the height of his success; we penetrated into the mysterious sanctuaries of Goethe's Faust, which contains everything, after the expression of Madame de Staël, and even something more than everything. Shakspeare was being discovered under the patchy translation of Letourneur; and from the East, which was yet unhackneyed, came Lord Byron's poems. How young, novel, strangely coloured, and intoxicating was all

this! Our heads were full of it; it seemed as if we were entering unknown worlds."

And after giving a humorous account of his first visit to Victor Hugo, in company with

other men afterwards famous, who were so frightened at the idea of being in the presence of the poet that they twice ran down the steps before they could make up their minds to knock at the door, he devotes a few pages to the description of a Romantic Society to which he belonged, and to whose members was intrusted the leadership in the battles that occurred at the performances of 'Hernani.' This Society was composed of Gérard de Nerval; Jehan du Seigneur, the distinguished sculptor; Augustus Mac-Keat, whom novel-readers will better know as Auguste Maquet; Joseph Bouchardy, the dramatist; Célestin Nanteuil, the painter; Petrus Borel; Théophile Gautier; and a strange

iconoclast of the name of Jules Vabre. It was

the fashion among the adepts to be pale, and even greenish in hue, the Byronic type being in favour. Jehan du Seigneur was in despair, because he was gifted with the freshest and ruddiest countenance ever owned by a young man of twenty-one. To make up for this disgrace of nature, Jehan wore a pourpoint of black velvet instead of a waistcoat. A short coat, with large velvet collar and facings, and a broad black cravat, completed a costume profoundly meditated, which did not betray the slightest white spot of linen! Shirt-collars were proscribed as a symbol of Philistinism. Still M. Victor Hugo wore one, and only the profound veneration he was held in induced his disciples to suffer it. The regrets of the Club at this profanation are extremely comical :

"When the doors were shut, and no profane ear was there to listen, we used to deplore this weakness of a great genius, which left him still united to Humanity, and even to the Bourgeoisie --a white shirt-collar. What profound sighs issued from our breasts!"

The most eccentric of the romanticists seems to have been the least known of all-Jules Vabre. His writings consisted of titles of works announced in advance, and of this kind: 'On the Influence of the Tails of Fishes on the Undulations of the Sea.' He was a fanatical admirer of Shakspeare, and went over to England in order to study the delicacies of the English idiom and enjoy the beauties of his idol. In 1843, Théophile Gautier found him studying these delicacies in a public-house in High Holborn, where he resided. He explained that he drank nothing but beer, because Shakspeare could only be understood by turning English as far as possible, and affecting English habits of thought. In fact, he had set to work so heartily that he had almost forgotten French.

M. Gautier's book contains elaborate portraits of all classes of Romantic artists Berlioz, Delacroix, Devéria, Roqueplan, Barye musicians, painters, sculptors, who one and all took a part in the great movement; and we cannot but heartily recommend it to whoever is anxious to have an accurate idea of the period it treats of. In concluding, it is only due to M. Maurice Dreyfous to give him the credit he deserves for editing this valuable work—no light task, considering that the MS. was in a state of confusion, and that the editor had to use his own judgment in setting it in proper order.

Written

Letters from India and Kashmir. 1870; Annotated, 1873. (Bell & Sons.) THE writer of these letters dedicates his volume, which is eked out by illustrative notes liberally drawn from standard works on India, to his father, to whom the originals were addressed, in the hope that they may help him to wile away an hour or two. We might suppose from this that the writer was a young man, and yet at page 123 he "an old man." But it speaks of himself as makes little difference, as there is really no reason for the publication of such a book. Notes made during a superficial, hurried tour through an old country like India are never satisfactory, and the present letters are of the flimsiest kind, wanting, moreover, in all those graces of sentiment and style which sometimes for the absence of weightier merits. They have not been improved either by the cumbrous quotations and notes from the works insertion, at every other page, of crude and of recognized authors on India. Still, while

make

up

we have found those letters which describe

The book is

The likeness is

places familiar to us unsubstantial, we have been interested by those written from parts of India unknown to us. handsomely "got up": it is charmingly illustrated by Mr. H. R. Robertson, principally from the writer's sketches; and people who know the old Chuprassie (Government attendant) of the Traveller's Bungalow (Rest House) at Mahableshwur, figured at page 36, will acknowledge Mr. Robertson's skill. perfect, and one might almost have supposed that it had been taken by Ernest Griset himself. It is a pity that the writer overlooked some capital subjects in the State of Goa, black gentlemen, with grand old Portuguese names, who stand about with arms akimbo, and, in their tall hats, black or white, and broadcloth frock-coats black down to the heels, look from behind like the most fashionable of London exquisites of the period of Leech's caricatures, but who you find, when you get to the front of them, are naked from head to foot. No familiarity with it ever detracts from the startling effects of this most comical transformation-scene.

As a favourable specimen of the writer's style, we may quote a description of the grave of Jehanara :

by

66 The

a marble trellis, is entered through a doorway grave of Jehanara near Delhi, surrounded

of the same material: the sarcophagus is open. In spring-time lilies bloom on the uncovered ground; in winter it is strewn with leaves and flowers by the faithful. There rests the daughter of Shah Jehan:-'Let no rich canopy cover my

grave; this grass is the best covering of the poor in spirit, the humble, the transitory Jehanara, the daughter of the Emperor Shah Jehan.'"

In letter X. Agra and the Taj-Mahal are well described, although too little is said about the mosaic art which, from the building of the Taj, sprang up there, and the revival of which, in our generation, has been entirely due to the untiring and enthusiastic labours, altogether unacknowledged and unknown, of Dr. Murray, late Inspector-General of the Bengal Army. Had the writer described the the Hindoo cities of Benares and Madura with the same sympathy that he has shown for Agra and Delhi, it would have greatly increased the

interest of his letters.

We congratulate the author on having

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