Page images
PDF
EPUB

are the momentous questions ever present to his thoughts, questions which, however, he always deals with from the standing-point of Christianity; not, like Byron, Shelley, and their school, as a mere pagan sage or sentimentalist, so that he eminently claims to be enrolled in the ranks of our Christian poets. But to the sonnets. Here is one upon baptism, wherein we find the doctrine of baptismal regeneration (the subject of so much controversy some years since) strongly put forward :

"BAPTISM.

"Dear be the Church, that, watching o'er the needs

Of infancy, provides a timely shower

Whose virtue changes to a Christian flower
A growth from sinful nature's bed of weeds!
Fitliest beneath the sacred roof proceeds
The ministration; while parental love
Looks on, and grace descendeth from above,
As the high service pledges now, now pleads.

There, should vain thoughts outspread their wings and fly
To meet the coming hours of festal mirth,*

The tombs-which hear and answer that brief cry,
The infant's notice of his second birth-

Recall the wandering soul to sympathy

With what man hopes from heaven, yet fears from earth."

Wordsworth then goes on to treat of the intermediate ordinances of the Church, from baptism to the Lord's supper. With two very graceful and touching sonnets on the preparatory rite of confirmation, he comes to

"SACRAMENT.

"By chain yet stronger must the soul be tied:
One duty more, last stage of this ascent,
Brings to thy food, mysterious Sacrament,
The offspring, haply at the parents' side;
But not till they, with all that do abide

In heaven, have lifted up their hearts to laud
And magnify the glorious name of God,—
Fountain of grace, whose Son for sinners died.
Ye who have duly weighed the summons, pause
No longer; ye, whom to the saving rite

The altar calls, come early under laws

That can secure for you a path of light

Through gloomiest shade; put on (nor dread its weight)
Armour divine, and conquer in your cause." ‡

Such are our poet's views on the two great sacraments of the Protestant churches. So much for Wordsworth's "Ecclesiastical Sonnets," of which these are perhaps not, poetically considered, the best. I have selected them, however, as more immediately giving indications of the author's personal religious views and sentiments. The christening festivities, &c.

1864.

The children who had just been confirmed.
"Sacraments of the Protestant Churches."

verse.

The "Ecclesiastical Sonnets," to be duly appreciated, should, like this great poet's works generally, be read in extenso, when one will be at a loss which the more to admire, the poetry or the piety, which last alone would entitle them to a high place in religious In the present review of Wordsworth's poems we have left wholly untouched his "long labour of love," the "Excursion," in which great work he pre-eminently appears in his character of the metaphysical poet, and in which all the higher attributes of his poetry are, as it were, concentred. That work would, however, require and well deserve a separate essay to itself, and it is time to bring this one to a close,-one which has already been protracted to too great a length, a fault which will, we hope, be kindly excused in consideration of the extent and variety of the subject-matter, which would give" ample room and verge enough"* for not one, but many essays. What has been said may, however, it is hoped, suffice to show that Wordsworth had in him something of the true poet, "the vision and the faculty divine," with all the faults of his poetical creed and practice, his "pedlars" and "boats," and "waggons," and such like poetic heresies,-faults which, in the spirit of the old Horatian‡ maxim, we may overlook, as the little peculiarities of a great genius, in consideration of his many excellences.

Indeed, the greatest living poet of our day, so admirable, generally, for the graces of his Muse, is sometimes, it must be admitted, found a grievous offender in this respect, §-a poet between whom and Wordsworth there is much in common, and one who may yet rival, perhaps eclipse, his illustrious predecessor.

A word of advice as to the study of Wordsworth. Let not the reader be discouraged should he find himself unable at once to appreciate the beauties, &c., of his poetry, which do not, like those of Byron, for instance, take the mind, so to speak, by storm, but rather imperceptibly insinuate themselves into it; for it has been well said that it is for its inner spirit that Wordsworth's poetry is admirable, rather than for its formal qualities,"-qualities in which he has certainly many superiors amongst his poetic brethren. To illustrate this in the words of a late writer,|| In reading Wordsworth the sensation is as the sensation of the pure water drinker, whose palate is so refined that he can distinguish between rill and rill, river and river, fountain and fountain, as compared with the obtuser sensation of him who has destroyed the delicacy of his palate by grosser libations, and who can distinguish no difference between water and water; because to him all pure things are

Gray, "The Bard."

+ Byron.

66

"Ubi plura nitent in carmine non ego paucis offendar maculis," &c. (When the beauties of a poem predominate, a few blemishes may be forgiven).-Horace, "Ars Poetica."

§ We refer here to Tennyson's "Maud."

"Lectures and Addresses," by the late Rev. F. Robertson, M.A., of Brighton.

equally insipid. It is like listening to the mysterious music in the conch sea-shell, which is so delicate and refined that we are uncertain whether it is the music and sound of the shell, or merely the pulses throbbing in our own ear. It is like watching the quivering rays of fleeting light that shoot up to heaven as we are looking at the sunset. So fine, so exquisitely touching is the sense of feeling, that we doubt whether it is reality we are gazing upon at all, or whether it is not merely an image created by the trembling of our own inner imagination." To conclude in the words of the same writer, in reference to the general absence of passion, and the like qualities, which distinguishes Wordsworth's poetry:

66

:

Intense as Wordsworth is, there is in him something wanting for the very highest poetry. He is too calm. There is a want of passion, and hence an entire absence of epic as well as dramatic power. He reflects where he ought to describe, and describes feeling where he ought to exhibit its manifestation. He sings of our nature as some philosophic spirit might sing of it in passionless realms of contemplation, far away from the discords of actual existence, of a humanity purged and purified, separate from the fierce feelings and wild gusts of passion which agitate real human life; and therefore Wordsworth can never be popular in the true sense of the word. His works will be bought and bound richly, and a few of his poems will be familiar words; but still he will remain the poet of the few, acknowledged by the many only because he is reverenced by the few,-those discerning few whose verdict slowly but surely leads the world at last."

B. C. H.

[The reader who has been interested by the foregoing essay, the extracts it contains, and the quotations of the opinions of critics in it, may be directed to an essay on the "Poetry of Wordsworth" contained in the British Controversialist for 1854, page 424, in which the philosophy of the characteristics of the Bard of Rydal are treated of with acuteness and insight. The two combined will afford suggestion sufficient to the thoughtful to peruse the works of Wordsworth for themselves. They have been recently made accessible by Messrs. Moxon, in a cheap edition. Brimley's criticism on Wordsworth, in Fraser's Magazine, July and August, 1851, reprinted in his "Essays;" David Masson's, in the North British Review, August, 1850, reissued in his " Essays on the English Poets," &c.; and H. T. Tuckerman's "Thoughts on the Poets," where he speaks of Wordsworth, deserve perusal. De Quincey's "Dissertation," in Vol. V. of his works, and Henry Reed's "Lectures on English Poetry," XV., are perhaps the best critiques extant of him whose aim it was

"To celebrate the thoughts that make The life of souls; the truths for whose sweet sake We to ourselves and to our God are dear."

An extensive and expensive biography of Wordsworth has appeared, but a briefer one, by Rev. E. P. Hood, may suit most readers.-ED. B. C.]

The Reviewer.

Recollections of Edward Capern. By W. ORMOND.
Bristol: W. Mack.

THERE is a dash and spiciness in the way Mr. Ormond gives his "Recollections of Edward Capern," the rural postman-poet of Bideford, North Devon, which shows a good deal of "fellow-feeling," which since the days of the old Bristolian Coleridge, as it has been admitted, "makes us wondrous kind." We like the frank, kindly manner in which he allows his feelings to gush out in admiration. It would be shameful were we from this small tract to cull its choice passages, and hence we advise all those who wish to know what manner of man this poet of and for the people is "at home," to get Ormond's "Recollections." They will find them worth a place among their treasured pamphlets, and will be glad to bind them up in some bundle of loved and loveworthy tracts regarding our songs and song-writers,-those who have uttered "voices for the crowd.'

A Lecture on the English Reformation. By EDMUND WELLS SIMMONS, M.R.C.P. London: W. Kent and Co.

THERE is great pith and force in this lecture. As we read it, it seems thoroughly adapted for delivery. In saying this, we do not praise it as a piece of composition intended for the eye, but for the ear; not as intended primarily to instruct, but to rouse and stir. In a rapid sweep of thought the lecturer discloses much of the moral grandeur of the work of Wycliffe, the singular religious indifferentism of Henry VIII., the labours of Cranmer; and shows the religious purpose which overruled all the events of that time. Sarcasm mingles with the more serious parts in an effective manner, and there is an outspoken bravery in some of the points made which is somewhat uncommon. Some of these, however, seem to us to mar, in a measure, the unity of the ole. We have received from the perusal a favourable impression of the ability, earnestness, religiousness, and culture of the lecturer, and wish his tract had met our eye somewhat earlier.

Living in Earnest; with Lessons and Incidents from the Lives. of the Great and Good. By JOSEPH JOHNSON.

London: T. Nelson and Sons.

WB seize this opportunity of drawing the attention of our readers to this new work, from the pen of one whose contributions have frequently enriched our volumes. It is written in a cheerful, interesting style, and is full of great facts and stirring thoughts. As an elegant though cheap present to a young man, we know of nothing equal to it. Its author deserves these "good words.

The Topic.

WAS SIR GEORGE GREY JUSTIFIED IN PREVENTING THE INFLICTION OF THE SENTENCE OF DEATH UPON TOWNLEY?

AFFIRMATIVE.

SIR GEORGE GREY obeyed the Act of Parliament on the subject. His conduct was constitutional, and therefore justifiable. The parties who collusively employed themselves to bring about this evident miscarriage of justice, however, are much to blame. Though Sir George Grey was justified by the letter of the law in untying the noose round the neck of Townley, it is questionable how far it is right to permit the men who supplied him with the means of at once obeying the letter, and breaking the spirit of the law, to go free. If there is a law against conspiracy, we might hear a little more of the case. Sir George Grey's justification is only capable of being shown by the crimination of others.-EYE.

Lunacy and crime are such near neighbours, and so often exhibit similar phases, that there must always be a great difficulty in acting the part assigned to the Secretary of State, and of discriminating between crime and lunacy. But as Sir George Grey acted on the best available advice, and in accordance with a distinct law regarding the infliction of capital punishment on lunatic convicts, he has exonerated himself from literal blame, although we may still think that the Occasion jumped with his liking, or it might not have been easy to save Townley.-LEX.

This question is simply whether Townley should have been respited or not, supposing it to be right to punish murder with death. The reply would then hinge upon the problem of the prisoner's sanity or insanity. That he was insane, we think the whole cir

nesses

cumstances of the murder appear to justify. No adequate cause or provocation can be discovered sufficiently strong to impel a man in his right mind to the committal of the deed with which he was charged. Could a sane mind destroy that which it loves or ever did truly love? His insanity was confirmed by two medical witat the trial, who gave their evidence, as Baron Martin told the Secretary of State, "in the strongest manner." So that we believe Sir G. Grey was justified in preventing the infliction of death upon moral grounds. When a certificate, signed according to law, by three justices and two medical men, was forwarded to Sir G. Grey, attesting Townley's insanity, we cannot doubt but they must have had an opportunity of knowing such to be the case; and Sir G. Grey had no other course open but to respite Townley. Thus Sir G. Grey was also justified in respiting him on legal grounds.J. W. A.

Under all the circumstances, Sir George Grey was justified in the conduct pursued by him; indeed, he had no alternative but to follow the terms of the Act of Parliament 3 and 4 Vic., cap. 54 (4th of August, 1840). If there was any fault committed, Sir G. Grey was not guilty of it; that Townley ought to have been hanged, there is, however, now no doubt in my mind, his supposed insanity being proven to be all a sham on his part.R. D. R.

The act 3rd and 4th Victoria, c. 54, provides that if two medical men, and two justices of the peace, certify the insanity of any prisoner, it shall be

« PreviousContinue »