-
Articles/Ads
Article Literature. ← Page 3 of 5 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Literature.
if the ) ' reach the years of maturity there is sufficient time for tliem to look upon it in a sad and dismal light , even if they have little or no experience ofthe troubles of mankind . But- of all the dull horrors to put into the mouth ofthe yomig , preserve us from such a specimen as JMr . Collett ' s " CHILD ' S PRAYKll " ( 1 ) ' ' AA'hen gloomy robes of dreary night
Sweep silent by my side , Ancl many a sad ancl ghost ^ ' sight-Follows with noiseless stride ; " AA'hen slowly steals the bridled breath , The spirit quails with dread , And footfall low of ghastly Death Steals to some other bed ;
" Or when , at call of w . ik' ning dawn , The spectral phantoms flee , And brightly streams the jocund morn ; My God , I think of Thee !" The above lugubrious rlvymc can only he equalled by one of the so called humourous specimens entitled " THE I . AT OP THE LIMPING . "
" And noiv the parson ' s voice repeats The words that make me die ; . ' A ( h ) men , ' the solemn clerk responds ; ' A ( h ) women , ' too , says I . " I'll take my stand on London bridge , Plunge in that stream of mud , And there will add more body to
That porter making flood . " And oh ! at evening , when the breeze Prom this rampagious sea AA'illywobbles through the streets , 0 , think of blessed me !
And now my story ' s clone , fair maid , Of hope and sorrow blended ; As the tadpole said , as he changed to a frog , Behold , my tale is ended . " That any one should write the second line of the above , and print a note to it stating " the words that make mc die , " is intended for the marriage service—which we humbly conceive is more likely to make one live—is purely unaccountable . It is not wit , nor sense , nor ribaldry , but sheer dulness , only fit for the inhabitants of The C '/ li / of the Dead .
Northumberland and the Border . By WAI . TEI : WHITE . London Chapman and Hall . Mil . AVHITE gave us his impressions of A Month , in Yorkshire , about this time last year ; this year lie has gone farther north , and this book is of greater interest than its predecessor . The Border , with its legends , minstrels }' , and the numerous frays ancl liftings , of which the recollection is associated with almost every acre of ground , becomes of all absorbing interest through its historical associations , which permeate through every era of our history from the Eomans down to our oivn timo . Mr . White lias done
good service m directing attention to this locality , aim will doubtless cause many travellers to seek a holiday among the vales and streams of Northumberland , hitherto the almost exclusive property of the angler and the artist . To those who wish for fresh ancl beautiful scenery , we cannot do better than advise an autumnal visit to the Border , and if they want reliable and useful information in a pleasant and attractive form , we counsel them to possess
themselves of JMr . White ' s Northumberland and the Border . They will find the work useful and amusing , illustrated with a capital map , and containing many quaint stories and some excellent sketches of popular sports , one of which we extract for its peculiarity of Jedburgh dialect : — " To this succeeds Hitch and luck—a feat quite new to me . A staff , upon which slides moveable bracketis fixed upriht in the ground
a , g ; you might fancy it the measuring rod by which the recruiting serjeant takes the height of smart young men anxious to fight for their country ; and the bracket being- set at a height of six feet , a disk of parchment , stretched on a hoop about the size of a dessert plate , is laid upon it A !* minutes of calm would now be desirable , for the disk is so light that jt is repeatedl y blown off . The game consists in the player leaping up oy the side of the staff , ancl ivhile up , kicking the disk off the bracket , mil then
• giving something like a polka hitch with his heel before he touches the earth . Hence the name , Hitch and Kick ; not an easy effort ° t gymnastics , as any one who has a soft place to practise on may uncomfortabl y prove . Redsark springs first , and away flies the disk , as if MX test wove but -a joke ; and three or four others that follow are equally Miccessful . One of them is a short burly fellow , by far too thick and eavy for feats of vaulting ambition , as one might judge , yet he leaps Slle as a Pantaloon . " He ' s a tailyer , I tell ye he ' s a tailyer ! " argues
Rustic loudly , to settle a dispute as to the heavy leapers calling , the bracket is pushed up to seven feet , and now the players must kick to a considerable height above thoir heads , and they all but ono knock oft tho disk , and that one , incredible as it may seem , is not the thick " tailyer . " But he fails at the next trial , with the bracket raised to eight feet : ancl although I see three others leap up and send the clink flying ivith that surprising high jerked kick , I can hardly believe my own eyes . Another rise—eight feet six—they all fail . A little lower—there , eight feet two—tho players try again , and one of the three dislodges the parchment . " AVeel dune ! weel dune ! " cry the rustics ; " thot ' s braw . "
liecollcetioiis of Samuel lingers . London : Longman and Co . " MKLOMOUS KOGEKS , " as Byron termed the poet , has here had full justice clone him . W " e remember Mr . Dyce ' s Table Talk of Samuel Rogers , and a more dull and pointless volume wc do not recollect . On opening the above volume of course ive , who are accustomed to venerate such names as Burke , JPorson , Sheridan , Byron , G-renville , Fox , Sidney Smith , Lnttrell , Moore , Malt-by ,
and others of the bygone celebrities of the generation now passed away , were most grievously disappointed at the amount of twaddle spoken hy these great men , wliich made us regret that their sayings and doings had been dragged forward in this way . This book itself tells us but little of Rogers more than we are all acquainted with , hut here ancl there are curious scraps of information , such , for instance , as the following ou reporting , —
" I-. once sent a shorthand writer to take notes of Addington ' s speeches , but the scheme failed—the notes were so imperfect . All the reporters were against us , ancl the inisrepresentioiis were a constant source of complaint . " \ It is wonderful how an art that now is so essentially useful could havo furnished such a passage , for if wc take all the morning papers and compare a speech delivered by any one , as printed iu
each of them , they are such exact counterparts of each other that nothing but a perfected and well understood system could produce . One of the best stories in the book , told by Sir Walter Scott , of himself , is worth preserving . Sir Walter says : —¦
' ' There was a boy in my class at school who stood always at the top ; nor could I . ivith all my efforts supplant him . Day passed after day and still he kept his place , do what I would ; till at length I observed that when a question was asked him he always fumbled with his fingers at a particular button in the lower part of his waistcoat . To remove it , therefore , became expedient in my eyes ; and in an evil moment it was removed with a knife . Great was my anxiety to know the success of my measure , and it succeeded too well . AA'hen the boy was again
questioned , his fingers again sought for the button , but it was not to be found . Iu his distress lie looked clown for it ; it was to be seen no more than to be felt . He stood confounded , and I took possession of his place ; nor did he ever recover it , or ever , I believe , street who ivas the author of his wrong . Often in after-life has the sight of him smote me as I passed by him , and often have I resolved to make him some reparation ; but it ended in good resolutions . Though I never renewed my acquaintance with him I often saw him , for he filled some inferior office in one of the courts of law at Edinburgh . Poor fellow ! He took early to drinking , and I believe ho is dead . "
JN'OTES ON" LITERATURE , SCIENCE , AND ART . LAST week , at the opening of tho twenty-eighth congress of the British Association at Aberdeen , the Prince Consort assumed the presidentship and delivered to an audience of two thousand persons , an inaugural address , replete with eloquence , goocl sense , and philosophy . The following is a very much condensed summary of his royal highness ' s observations : — " Gentlemen , your kind invitation to me to undertake
the office of your president for tho ensuing year could not but startle me on its first announcement . Tho high position which science occupies , the vast number of distinguished men who labour in the sacred cause , and whose achievements , while spreading innumerable benefits , justly attract tho admiration of mankind , contrasted strongly in iny mind with the consciousness of my own insignificance in this respect . A simple admirer of science to take the place of the chief and spokesman of
scientific men of the day assembled in furtherance of their important objects —the thing appeared to me impossible ; yet on reflection I came to the conclusion that , if not as a contributor to or director of your labours , I might still be useful to you—useful to science—by accepting your offer . Remembering that this association is not a secret fraternity of men jealously guarding the mysteries of their profession , but inviting the uninitiated public at large to join them—having as one of its objects to
break clown those imaginary and hurtful barriers which exist between men of science , and so-called men of practice—I felt that I could , from the peculiar position in wliich Providence has placed me in this country , appear as the representative of that large public which profits by and admires your exertions , but is unable actively to join in them ; that my
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Literature.
if the ) ' reach the years of maturity there is sufficient time for tliem to look upon it in a sad and dismal light , even if they have little or no experience ofthe troubles of mankind . But- of all the dull horrors to put into the mouth ofthe yomig , preserve us from such a specimen as JMr . Collett ' s " CHILD ' S PRAYKll " ( 1 ) ' ' AA'hen gloomy robes of dreary night
Sweep silent by my side , Ancl many a sad ancl ghost ^ ' sight-Follows with noiseless stride ; " AA'hen slowly steals the bridled breath , The spirit quails with dread , And footfall low of ghastly Death Steals to some other bed ;
" Or when , at call of w . ik' ning dawn , The spectral phantoms flee , And brightly streams the jocund morn ; My God , I think of Thee !" The above lugubrious rlvymc can only he equalled by one of the so called humourous specimens entitled " THE I . AT OP THE LIMPING . "
" And noiv the parson ' s voice repeats The words that make me die ; . ' A ( h ) men , ' the solemn clerk responds ; ' A ( h ) women , ' too , says I . " I'll take my stand on London bridge , Plunge in that stream of mud , And there will add more body to
That porter making flood . " And oh ! at evening , when the breeze Prom this rampagious sea AA'illywobbles through the streets , 0 , think of blessed me !
And now my story ' s clone , fair maid , Of hope and sorrow blended ; As the tadpole said , as he changed to a frog , Behold , my tale is ended . " That any one should write the second line of the above , and print a note to it stating " the words that make mc die , " is intended for the marriage service—which we humbly conceive is more likely to make one live—is purely unaccountable . It is not wit , nor sense , nor ribaldry , but sheer dulness , only fit for the inhabitants of The C '/ li / of the Dead .
Northumberland and the Border . By WAI . TEI : WHITE . London Chapman and Hall . Mil . AVHITE gave us his impressions of A Month , in Yorkshire , about this time last year ; this year lie has gone farther north , and this book is of greater interest than its predecessor . The Border , with its legends , minstrels }' , and the numerous frays ancl liftings , of which the recollection is associated with almost every acre of ground , becomes of all absorbing interest through its historical associations , which permeate through every era of our history from the Eomans down to our oivn timo . Mr . White lias done
good service m directing attention to this locality , aim will doubtless cause many travellers to seek a holiday among the vales and streams of Northumberland , hitherto the almost exclusive property of the angler and the artist . To those who wish for fresh ancl beautiful scenery , we cannot do better than advise an autumnal visit to the Border , and if they want reliable and useful information in a pleasant and attractive form , we counsel them to possess
themselves of JMr . White ' s Northumberland and the Border . They will find the work useful and amusing , illustrated with a capital map , and containing many quaint stories and some excellent sketches of popular sports , one of which we extract for its peculiarity of Jedburgh dialect : — " To this succeeds Hitch and luck—a feat quite new to me . A staff , upon which slides moveable bracketis fixed upriht in the ground
a , g ; you might fancy it the measuring rod by which the recruiting serjeant takes the height of smart young men anxious to fight for their country ; and the bracket being- set at a height of six feet , a disk of parchment , stretched on a hoop about the size of a dessert plate , is laid upon it A !* minutes of calm would now be desirable , for the disk is so light that jt is repeatedl y blown off . The game consists in the player leaping up oy the side of the staff , ancl ivhile up , kicking the disk off the bracket , mil then
• giving something like a polka hitch with his heel before he touches the earth . Hence the name , Hitch and Kick ; not an easy effort ° t gymnastics , as any one who has a soft place to practise on may uncomfortabl y prove . Redsark springs first , and away flies the disk , as if MX test wove but -a joke ; and three or four others that follow are equally Miccessful . One of them is a short burly fellow , by far too thick and eavy for feats of vaulting ambition , as one might judge , yet he leaps Slle as a Pantaloon . " He ' s a tailyer , I tell ye he ' s a tailyer ! " argues
Rustic loudly , to settle a dispute as to the heavy leapers calling , the bracket is pushed up to seven feet , and now the players must kick to a considerable height above thoir heads , and they all but ono knock oft tho disk , and that one , incredible as it may seem , is not the thick " tailyer . " But he fails at the next trial , with the bracket raised to eight feet : ancl although I see three others leap up and send the clink flying ivith that surprising high jerked kick , I can hardly believe my own eyes . Another rise—eight feet six—they all fail . A little lower—there , eight feet two—tho players try again , and one of the three dislodges the parchment . " AVeel dune ! weel dune ! " cry the rustics ; " thot ' s braw . "
liecollcetioiis of Samuel lingers . London : Longman and Co . " MKLOMOUS KOGEKS , " as Byron termed the poet , has here had full justice clone him . W " e remember Mr . Dyce ' s Table Talk of Samuel Rogers , and a more dull and pointless volume wc do not recollect . On opening the above volume of course ive , who are accustomed to venerate such names as Burke , JPorson , Sheridan , Byron , G-renville , Fox , Sidney Smith , Lnttrell , Moore , Malt-by ,
and others of the bygone celebrities of the generation now passed away , were most grievously disappointed at the amount of twaddle spoken hy these great men , wliich made us regret that their sayings and doings had been dragged forward in this way . This book itself tells us but little of Rogers more than we are all acquainted with , hut here ancl there are curious scraps of information , such , for instance , as the following ou reporting , —
" I-. once sent a shorthand writer to take notes of Addington ' s speeches , but the scheme failed—the notes were so imperfect . All the reporters were against us , ancl the inisrepresentioiis were a constant source of complaint . " \ It is wonderful how an art that now is so essentially useful could havo furnished such a passage , for if wc take all the morning papers and compare a speech delivered by any one , as printed iu
each of them , they are such exact counterparts of each other that nothing but a perfected and well understood system could produce . One of the best stories in the book , told by Sir Walter Scott , of himself , is worth preserving . Sir Walter says : —¦
' ' There was a boy in my class at school who stood always at the top ; nor could I . ivith all my efforts supplant him . Day passed after day and still he kept his place , do what I would ; till at length I observed that when a question was asked him he always fumbled with his fingers at a particular button in the lower part of his waistcoat . To remove it , therefore , became expedient in my eyes ; and in an evil moment it was removed with a knife . Great was my anxiety to know the success of my measure , and it succeeded too well . AA'hen the boy was again
questioned , his fingers again sought for the button , but it was not to be found . Iu his distress lie looked clown for it ; it was to be seen no more than to be felt . He stood confounded , and I took possession of his place ; nor did he ever recover it , or ever , I believe , street who ivas the author of his wrong . Often in after-life has the sight of him smote me as I passed by him , and often have I resolved to make him some reparation ; but it ended in good resolutions . Though I never renewed my acquaintance with him I often saw him , for he filled some inferior office in one of the courts of law at Edinburgh . Poor fellow ! He took early to drinking , and I believe ho is dead . "
JN'OTES ON" LITERATURE , SCIENCE , AND ART . LAST week , at the opening of tho twenty-eighth congress of the British Association at Aberdeen , the Prince Consort assumed the presidentship and delivered to an audience of two thousand persons , an inaugural address , replete with eloquence , goocl sense , and philosophy . The following is a very much condensed summary of his royal highness ' s observations : — " Gentlemen , your kind invitation to me to undertake
the office of your president for tho ensuing year could not but startle me on its first announcement . Tho high position which science occupies , the vast number of distinguished men who labour in the sacred cause , and whose achievements , while spreading innumerable benefits , justly attract tho admiration of mankind , contrasted strongly in iny mind with the consciousness of my own insignificance in this respect . A simple admirer of science to take the place of the chief and spokesman of
scientific men of the day assembled in furtherance of their important objects —the thing appeared to me impossible ; yet on reflection I came to the conclusion that , if not as a contributor to or director of your labours , I might still be useful to you—useful to science—by accepting your offer . Remembering that this association is not a secret fraternity of men jealously guarding the mysteries of their profession , but inviting the uninitiated public at large to join them—having as one of its objects to
break clown those imaginary and hurtful barriers which exist between men of science , and so-called men of practice—I felt that I could , from the peculiar position in wliich Providence has placed me in this country , appear as the representative of that large public which profits by and admires your exertions , but is unable actively to join in them ; that my