The Press. — London, England, 1857-11-28 00:00:00

1164 ushers, he earnestly and anxiously endeavoured to discover some means by which his purse might be replenished speedily, without much labour or delay. His last sovereign had dwindled to half ; his credit he did not wish to test, and with ideas quickened, by what John Taylor quaintly calls, " Wit's whetstone, Want," he resolved to correct, and offer to the publishers, a series of miscel laneous essays which he had from time to time composed, and which now swelled to the proportions of an octavo volume. He arranged the manuscript for inspection in a few hours, and early the following morning set out in search of a purchaser. He valued the papers lightly, and his hope of finding a publisher willing to buy them was almost forlorn. Mrs. Banim spent that lonely day in anxious expectation of his return. At length, late in the evening, he entered their little drawing-room. He looked weary and despondent, and seating himself by his wife's able he gazed mournfully in her sad face : he drew her towards him, kissed her tenderly, but spoke not a wor,l. She feared to question; but after he had sat ►n silence for a minute, he sprang from his seat, crying, " Ellen, my darling, hold out your dress for a present," and in a moment he threw into her lap a shower of bright clinking guineas—and kissing her once more, whilst his eyes laughed out in all the joy of his heart's triumph, he cried, " There, Ellen, there are thirty guineas, the price of the essays." The work by which Banim is principally known is the " Tales by the O'Hara Family," which he wrote in conjunction with his brother Michael ; but he was, when in health, an indefatigable contributor to magazines and newspapers, and we could wish Mr. Murray had been able to collect more information upon this subject. Any facts tending to illus trate the means by which literary men have been able to subsist in London during the earlier stages of their career are very valuable to authors and very interesting to the public. It was about 1830 that Banim's health com pletely broke down. He ►vas compelled to reside in France, and, being unable to con tinue his literary pursuits, a subscription was opened for his support, to which many emi nent names were appended. When he was finally declared to be incurable, he resolved to return home, and, happier than his poor countryman, Goldsmith, was enabled to accom plish his desire—to lay his head among those " humble bowers " where he had wandeeed when a boy, fell of literary enthusiasm— Around his fire an evening group to draw, And tell of all he felt and all he saw— and to breathe his last, not iu lonely chambers, but with friends and relations round his bed. He died in the month of July, 1849, leaving behind him a widow and an only child—his daughter May. She died of consumption two years afterwards, but his widow received a pension from Sir Robert Peel, and his brother Michael is now postmaster at Kilkenny. As the life of a genuine " literary man," neither so low as to come within the class of scrib blers, nor so high as to be above the small pecuniary anxieties attendant on the profes sion of literature, this volume will repay at tention, and most probably attain popularity. BOOKS FOR PRESEN TS. 1. The Poetical Works of Edgar Allan Poe. With Original Memoir. Profusely Illus trated. Landon : Sampson Low and Co. 2. The Prince of Peace; or, Lays of Bethlehem. Illustrated. London : Seeleys. 3. Kavanagh. A Tale. By H. W. Longfellow. Illustrated by Birket Foster. London : Kent and Co. THE first of these volumes is the handsomest edition of Edgar Poe's poems that has yet been published. It contains all his pieces in verse, including the " Scenes from Politian," and there is appended the lecture by Poe himself on his ideas of " The Poetic Principle." The illustrations are extremely numerous, and several of them arc executed in the best style of book engravings. F. It. Pickersgill, R A., Tenniel, Birket Foster, F. Darley, and other artists, contribute the designs, some of which are conceived with great poetical spirit. " The Raven" is illustrated in four drawings by Tenniel, representing the scene in the study between Lenore's lover and the ghostly bird, and they are the best in the volume. " The Haunted Palace," by A. M. Madot, has some spirited drawing, but it represents a city of palaces rather than the ideas represented in the poet's lines. " Israfel," by P. Duggan, has merit in conception, but it is too like a vision n the boards of f the opera-house. Birket THE PRESS, NOVEMBER 28, 1857 b Foster is rather too fond of a long seashore, with the surf failing in one lengthy wave. He seems to have studied the sea in one geogra phical locality, where, as at Deal, the ocean breaks in what sailors call " rollers." We cannot, however, forget that of all mental pursuits there is none which begets man neristn so much as producing designs for books. "The Garden," by this clever artist, is extremely picturesque and airy, and realises the imagination of the poet. It is drawn for the " Scenes from Politian." The " View of Rome," by Percival Skelton, to illustrate the same fragmentary drama, is extremely hold and effective, the sense of space and distance being well brought out. On the other hand, we cannot praise for invention Pickersgill's scene between Castiglione and Alessandra ; the form and features of the latter are like those usually assigned by Leech to her Majesty. But altogether the volume as a book of art desErves great praise. The binding and typography are all got up in a most handsome style. Whether Poe's poems are those which one ought to give as a present is a point on which tastes will differ. With many persons, the un deniable beauty of his poetry is scarcely a compensation for its morbid feeling. It is hardly possible, also, to avoid recollecting his most unfortunate life and his melancholy end. The music of his verses and the force of his ideality , are beyond question, but ho had no calm sense of pure nature. He has been said to be amongst poets what Salvator Rosa was amongst painters; but Salvator did represent Nature as she is seen in some of her most sublimely beautiful forms in the Apennines. As mere landscape pieces, his woods an d mountains are of ;.he true Italian kind. We cannot find a correspondent local fidelity in Poe ; he might have written in Germany, or France, or anywhere else, as well as in America. In the memoir prefixed to this volume, Poe's genius is thus delineated : Of all the poets whose lives have been a puzzle and a mystery to the wort 1, there is no one more difficult to be understood than Edgar Allan Poe. ft is impossible to carry in the mind a double idea of a man, and to believe him to be both a saint and a fiend ; yet such is the em barrassment felt by those who have first read the poems of this strange being, and then read any of the biographies of him which pretend to anything like an accurate account of his life. Like his own Raven, he is, to his readers, " bird or fiend," they know not which. But a close study of his works will reveal the fact, which may serve in some degree to remove this embarrassment, that there is no where discoverable in them a consciousness of moral responsibility. They are full of the subtleties of passion, of grief, despair, and longing, but they contain nothing that indicates a sense of moral rectitude. They are the productions of one whose religion was a worship of the Beautiful, and who knew no beauty but that which was purely aensuons. There were but two kinds of beauty for him, and they were Form and Colour. He revelled in an ideal world of perfect shows, and was made wretched by any imperfections of art. The Lenore whose loss he de plored was a being fair to the eye, a beautiful creature, like Undine, without a soul. With this key to the cha racter of the poet, there is no difficulty in fully compre hending the strange inconsistencies, the basenesses and nobleness which his wayward life exhibited. This want of " moral rectitude," and admira tion of mere " sensuous beauty," spoken of in the foregoing extract, must largely interfere with the permanent popularity of Poe as a poet. 2. This volume consists of selections of re ligious pieces from the poets of England. It is designed as a Christmas book—all the pieces being arranged under seven heads— " The Eternal Purpose," " Annunciation," " Nativity," &e. &e. The selection is judi ciously made, and includes some of the finest religious pieces in the language, but in reading them we are forced to recollect Johnson's famous argument on the, comparative weakness of " religious poetry." The various writers seem like so many rhetoricians trying to echo in verse the inspiration of the Bible. Books of this kind are suited for presents at festivals held in honour by Christians, and this volume is one of the best of the kind that we have seen. It is handsomely illustrated by de signers of merit, and it will no doubt meet with appreciation. 3. This is a beautiful edition of Longfellow's well known tale of " Kavanagh." It is illus trated by Birket Foster, and is well suited for a gift of affection, as the letterpress is inte resting in matter, and a serene sense of the beautiful is finely produced by the illustra- tor's active pencil. Some of Fosters drawings are to be found in this volume. His figures from life want clearness of outline, and are rather deficient in drawing, but his landscapes have broad and bold effects, and the poetical tone which runs through the story of " Kava• nigh" is well understood by the practised artist. Letta's Diary for 1858. London : Letts, Son, and Co. WE have looked through this number of a very use ful publication as carefully as circumstances would permit of, and we should say it answers its purposa very closely. There is hardly any description of in formation connected with public affairs, whether in the shape of business or politics, which is not to be found within Sits pages, with a variety of miscella neous knowledge hardly less useful and important. We have no space for an index, and that alrne could do justice to its varied contents. We would suggest, however, in a future number, the insertion of a certain kind of information useful to humbler memb3n3 of society, such, for instance, as a few simple instructions to the owners and occupiers of houses, and the influence upon their relations exer cised by the new Local Management Act. A copious verbal index would also be an improvement. BOOKS FOIL CHILDREN. Historical Acting Charades; or, Amusements for Winter Evenings. London: Griffith and Ferran. A SEASONABLE little book, relating the adventures of a party of children assembled together at Christmas for their holidays. The charades are not too abstruse for the youthful mind, and the book is to be recom• mended, for it teaches children all the details of the art of passing an evening pleasantly. Jack Frost and Betty Snow. London : Griffith and Farrar'. Biddy Dorking. London : Griffith and Farran. THE first some charming children's tales for wintry nights and rainy days, and the second, edited by Mrs. S. C. Hall, a well written and humorous story of the adventures of a Dorking hen. It is a little book to win the heart of every child. Might not Right; or, Stories of the Discovery and Conquest of America. London : Griffith and Farran. A SERIES of conversations upon the history of the discoveries of Columbus, of the conquest of Mexico by Cortes, and of Peru by Pizarro. Historical novelettes are not generally advisable, but the au thoress on this occasion appears to be accurrate in her facts and judicious in her conclusions. PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED—NovEmBER 2G. BOOKS. Memoirs of the Mike of Saint Simon. By Bayle St. John. Vols. 111. and IV. Chapman and HAIL The Principles of Agriculture and Organic Chemistry. By I'. Lovell Phillips, M. D. Smith and Elder. London Lyrics. By Frederick Locke. Chapman and Hall. De La Rue's Improved Indelible Diary and Memorandum Book, 1M)8. De La Rue. The Gables. By Julia Melville. Three Vols. T. C. Newby. Constance and Edith. By A Clergyman's Wife. T. Hatehard. Oriental and it'estern Siberia. By Tholnas W. Atkinson. Hurst and Blacken. Three Vole._ Caste. By the Author of " Mr. Arlo." Hurst and Hlackett. Captivity of Two Russian Princesses. By H. Sutherland Edwards. Smith and Elder Hackney Carriage Fares and Abstract of Arts. Knight and Co. The Young Widow. By Mackenzie Daniel. Hodgson. The London Pulpit. By J. Ewinst Ritchie. \V. Tweedie. Writings and Labours of the Rev. M. A. Gathercolr. Shaw. The Elements of Political Economy. By Henry Dunning Macleod. Longman. Zoologic - alßecreations. By W. J. Broderip, F.R.S R. Griffin and Co. The Speech of Cicero. By William Ramsay, M. 1.. R. Griffin and Co. The Thousand and One Days. W. Lay. The Life and Adventures of Jules Gera? d,the Lion Killer. W. Lay. HER MAJESTY'S THEATRE.—M. J ullien, we are happy to announce, will give a second series of con certs, to commence on Tuesday next, and to include Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Mendelasohn, and Weber nights. ST. JAMES'S THEATRE.—Rioci's It Birraio Preston has met with great success. The ab-;ence of an efficient prima donr.a in the Opera Buffa company had been hitherto felt more or less in every perfor mance, and much therefore depended upon the