The Press.
London, England, 1855-11-24 00:00:00

lii tttings.

FEMALN EDUCATION OF THE INDUSTRIAL CLASSED
VMS made the subject of a meeting and lecture at
WANDSWORTH on Tuesday last. The lecturer, Dr.
Booth, D.C.L., in stating his views of the question,
asserted that modern education failed entirely in
one point—that of making the moral keep pace with
the intellectual spirit of the age ; and that though
the intellectual progress of the industrial classes
depended of course on their application at school,
their moral advance depended solely upon what they
met with at home, and that until we taught the
women of the country a knowledge of those common
duties in life with which they will have to deal as
married women and mothers, we can never hope to
effect any lasting good among the industrial classes.
The ignorance of women of their home duties he
regarded as the mainspring of half the misery exposed
at the police-courts, and that any attempt to eradicate
the early impressions of children brought up under
such influences must fail, if we only tried precepts at
school, but left example to be looked for at home.
The lecturer concluded by an earnest appeal for
subscriptions to establish a school in Wandsworth,
where moral and domestic training should be as fully
attended to as intellectual advancement. Mr. Chad-
wick and some other gentlemen made a few remarks
upon the subject, and the meeting broke up.
A MEETING iS to be held on the 29th of this month
at St. Martin's-ball, Long-acre, in commemoration of
the last Polish struggle against Russia. A committee
has been formed for the purpose of carrying it into
effect, and an address issued, in which it is stated
that the meeting will afford

a most appropriate occasion to give expression to the
very wide-spread opinion that the present war is not
carried on upon that broad and righteous principle which
alone could make it successful, honourable, or even justi-
fiable. Months pass away, armies are destroyed, anceesses
are achieved, and still we find no worthy aim laid down for
the war—no definite object for which we are to fight. and
on the attainment of which we might hope for peace—for
a peace worthy of its cost, secure, lasting, honourable.
This is trifling with the nation's enthusiasm—this is sap-
ping the foundation of our trust and hope.
The address proposes that the standard of Poland
shall bo raised, as the surest moans of enlisting
Sweden, Norway, Hungary, and Italy on our side,
and concludes by stating :

Our false war policy, or rather no policy at all, is giving
birth to dire and most alarming complications involving
our honour and liberties at home. As our rulers shrink
from alliance with freedom and the nationalities, they sre
seeking closer alliance with the despotisms. Already our
right of asylum is violated, and sinister whisperings of
renewed and strengthened Alien Bills are heard. From a
Deportation Bill for aliens to a Gagging Bill for English•
men the distance is not great, and both point in the direr•
ton of anew Holy Alliance. Shall this be the result of
England's sacrifices for what she deemed a war of liberty
against Cossackdom?
THE TESTIMONIAL TO MAJOR GENERAL WINDHAM,
for which a subscription was opened in Norfolk
:ately, has not yet been decided on. A public meet-
ing was held at Norwich on Saturday last, to con-
sider the question, and a committee, with the Earl of
Leicester at its head, appointed to report upon the
subject. The subscription amounts at present to
80:131. 18.8. Bd.

NOVEMBER 24, 1855.

fittraturt.

The Poetical Works of Lord Byron. Vol. 11.
" Murray's British Classics." London :
Murray.
Twx literary supervision and typography of
the second volume of this "new edition" of
Lord Byron's works deserve the same praise
that we have accorded to the preceding portion.
The notes are never superfluous, and are
written with terseness of style, while the
introductions to the poems exhibit critical
acumen. There is an accuracy of statement
and absence of exaggeration in the editorial
illustrations which give this edition a high
literary value peculiar to itself; and we feel
justified in examining it in detail.
The present volume contains the famous
" Ode to Napoleon," " The Hebrew Melodies,"
"Domestic Pieces" (1816), " Monody on
Sheridan," " The Dream," " The Lament of
Tasso," " Ode on Venice," " Morgante Mag-
giore," "Prophecy of Dante," " Francesca of
"The Blues," "The Vision of Judg-
ment," " The Age of Bronze," and last, but
not least, " Occasional Pieces " (1807-1824).
We have been particular in enumerating
the contents, because we apprehend that pur-
chasers will be glad to have separate volumes
of this edition. "Childe Harold " was the
chief part of the first, and the " Occasional
Pieces " are the great attractions of this se
cond volume. Even if they stood by them-
selves, they would give Byron an abiding
place in our literature. We shall glance at
the contents of the volume seriatim.
The "Ode to Napoleon' is, we think, much
overrated, and is not up to the Byronic level.
Its thoughts are obvious, and its metre wants
grandeur and resonance. It is entirely
below what Dryden might have written on
such a subject, and it is not equal to what
Cowley wrote on the death of Cromwell. We
should have expected more from the pen which
described Waterloo with such imposing effect
in " Childe Harold." The false moral philoso-
phy of the ode, also, detracts seriously from
its merit.
The "Hebrew Melodies" exhibit power
over rhythm and practised skill in versifica-
tion, and little more. " The Assyrian came
down, &c.," is a model of resonant verse, and
is a standard piece with elocutionists for the
purpose of teaching delivery. Divested of its
sonorous power, there is little though& in it.
" The Wild Gazelle " is far superior in poetry,
especially the third stanza, and the verses
" Oh! weep for those " have touching pathos.
Few but Byron could have written such lines
as these :

And where shall Israel lave her bleedingifeet ?
And when shall Zion's songs again seem sweet?
And Judah'a melody once more rejoice
The hearts that leap'd before its heavenly voice ?
Tribes of the wandering foot and weary breast,
How shall ye flee away and be at rest !
The wild-dove bath her nest, the fox his cave,
Mankind their country—lsrael but the grave !
The "Domestic Pieces" have chiefly a
biographic interest. " The Sketch," beginning
" Born in a garret, &c.," is gross, coarse, and
vulgar. There is a minute particularisation
of invidious points which shows satirical
power, but it is not a masterpiece ; and Lord
Byron was never first-rate when he took Pope
for a model. All the lines to his sister (Mrs.
Leigh) are exquisitely sweet, but especially
those entitled " The Epistle to Augusta." In
those lines, alone, we can distinguish that
musical utterance and intensity of feeling
which are the special marks of Byron's style.
How tenderly the poem begins :
My sister! my sweet sister! if a name
Dearer and purer were, it should he thine.
Mountains and seas divide us, but I claim
No tears, but tenderness to answer mine :
Go where T will, to me thou art the same—
A loved regret which I would not resign.
There yet are two things in my destiny,—
A world to roam through, and a home with thee.
And the concluding stanzas are very affecting.
On the question of the domestic unhappiness
of Lord and Lady Byron the editor has written
with calm tetnper. He observes :
Of the six "Domestic Pieces," the first three were
England;dy before Lord Byron's departure from
the others during his residence in the neigh