The Press.
London, England, 1854-05-06 00:00:00

426

to be found, must be looked for in regions
lying farther to the north-west than any yet ex
plored ; in fact, in and beyond Wellington
Channel. This is also the view taken by Lady
Franklin, after consultation with the most emi•
nent arctic geographers. It is demonstrated
that farther search in the more southern
locality of the American coasts is useless, and
unfortunately the unexplored regions where
Franklin may possibly be yet living are the
most distant and dangerous of all. Theyhave,
until the sending out of the last expeditions,
been almost unaccountably neglected. God
grant it be not now too late to repair the
error !

PERIODIC AL LITERATURE.

13latktenod opens this month with an exposure of
" The Oxford Reform Bill," which it criticises in a
style that will not be appreciated in Downing street.
The next article is on " Ancient and Modern
Fortresses," avowedly from an unprofessional pen.
Its matter is not sufficiently instructive, and, though
pleasingly written, it disappoints expectation. We
are then, by special favour, allowed a view of an un-
acted tragedy, called " Firmilian," by Percy Jones.
Its author, on reading the article reviewing his
performance, would probably desire that, like his
own drama, the review had been " privately printed."
The pretensions of Mr. Percy Jones are thus pro-
nounced upon :
" It is rather difficult to give a serious opinion upon the
merits of such a production as this. It is, of course,
utterly extravagant; but so are the whole of the writings
of the poets of the Spasmodic school ; and, in the eyes of
a considerable body of modern critics, extravagance is
regarded as a proof of extraordinary genius. It is, here
and there, highly coloured ; but that also is looked upon
as a symptom of the divine afflatus, and rather prized than
otherwise. In one point of proclaimed spasmodic excel-
lence, perhaps it fails. Yon can always tell what Percy
Jones is after, even when he is dealing with ' shuddering
stars," gibbous moons,' imposthumes of hell,' and the
like ; whereas you may read through twenty pages of the
more ordinary stufF without being able to discern what the
writers mean—and no wonder, for they really mean
nothing. They are simply writing nonsense.verses ; but
they contrive, by blazing away whole rounds of metaphor,
to mask their absolute poverty of thought, and to convey
the impression that there must be something stupendous
under so heavy a canopy of smoke. lf, therefore,
intelligibility, which is the highest degree of obscurity, is
t' be considered a poetic excellence, we are afraid that
Jones must yield the palm to several of his contemporaries ;
if, on the contrary, perspicuity is to be regarded as a
virtue, we do not hesisate in assigning the spasmodic prize
to the author of Firmilian To him the old lines on
Marlowe, with the alteration of the name, might be
applied
Next Percy Jones, bathed in the Thespian Springs,
Had in him those brave sublunary Things
That your first Poets had ; his Raptures were
All Air and Fire, which made his verses clear ;
For that Fierce Madness still he did retain,
Which rightly should possess a Poet's Brain."
The lines on " Marathon," by 3. B. S., are very
spirited, in spite of their too obvious elaboration.
"From London to West Prussia" is a very readable
gossipping paper on foreign travel. The article on
" China " reads rather heavily ; but the concluding
paper, on " The Progress of Russia in Central Asia,"
merits attentive perusal.

THE non-political articles in the May number of
Fraser are above the average merit. In the first,
" Cronstadt and the Russian Fleet," we have a
detailed account of the fortifications and forces Sir
Charles Napier has to encounter. But as this
description, evidently written from personal observa-
tion, though sufficiently intelligible with the aid of a
map, is condensed, and relates to
"ramps and ramparts, cunettes and countergnards,
tenailles and traverses, beems, cavaliers, homworks, capon-
ravelins, and counterscarps,"
erected, some on piles in the sea, others on
labyrinthine islets, rocks, and promontories, we shall
not attempt the impossibility of expressing his mean.
ing in words of our own. The writer does not ex-
press a definite opinion on the point, but the
impression on his mind seems to be that the defences
of Cronstadt, though of the most formidable descrip-
tion, are not impregnable. What is thought of it in
Russia's northern capital the reader will learn from
the following extract :
" Much may be heard in St. Petersburg about 'the petits '
of Cronstadt. Public opinion in the Russian capital is not
imposed upon by the swagger of military gentlemen, or by
the gross-submarine-galvanovranitic-e.rplogions-mines (` in-
famous rocks!') of Professor Jacobi. And it is hardly
going too far to assert, that there are not fifty people
in St. Peterbnrg who feel much confidence in the power of
the lock of the street dour ' (as the Emperor Alexander
used to call ('ronatadt) to resist. an attempt against it made
by skiltltl pickers. More than this,—the serf-population,
and very many of the higher orders, heard with extreme
alarm of the revie
wing and cannonading which came off
reviaw
last autumn at Spithe . It was easy to see that they con-