The Express.
London, England, 1868-05-16 00:00:00

THE PHARMACOPOEIA.

An Extract free the Second Edition (pop 18(1)
of the

Translation of the Thar,!acopeaht, of the Royal College of

Ploysldeas-of laud's,

By Dr. 0.1. Colitir. Published by Leaman and Co.
"It is no small defect in this compilation (,peaking of the
Phannacopoial that we have no purgative IMAM but what
contains aloes, yet we know that hannorrisaidal parsons cannot
bear aloe except it be In the form et
COCKLE'S
PILLS,

which chiefly consist of aloes scammony, and oolocynth, which I
think are formed Into a sort of cesspetted extract, the acridity
of which is obviated, I suspect, by an alkaline proems, and by a
fourth ingredient (unknown to me) of an aromatic tonic nature.
I think no better and no worse et It far Its being a patent me&
dna I look at it as an article of commerce and domestic cos-
ventenoe, and do not hesitate to say it M the beat made pOl in
the /datum , a muscular mew, a Maaaaa and a Welt-
'ogee purge combined, and Qat allesta prepair contrelled by
a dirigent and a oorrigent. Sal It Mess ant sinmentr ;rodeos
bnitiorrkoids like mast &WO Os I tillolloss M Mn baby
the lo them/1411y
so/able
nik,oas. 8o that so seaming midst sum to
os ii"

DitSCOTT'S BILIOUS and LIVER !a:wit
a sever fallirg remedy, prepared without any
=gt, will be found invaluable to all who suffer from
ild Uver complaints, indigestion, wind, giddi-
es.", asthma of the eyes, go. For habitual coo ma, as a
bunny aperient medicine, and as a purifier of the blood, they ere
truly sscollent ; mild is their operation and crateful to the
stomach, they create appetite, pprroomote digestion, and
the whole nervous rystent.— by W. Lira =,
1 Clog William-street, Charing-cruss, and by most druß4to, In
boxes, la. M., and throe times the quantity In one, Is. ad. Be
sore to eat for Dr. 800tte Bilious and Liver Pills. The genuine
are in a square cream package, with "William lambert" en-
graved on the stump.

PitINVIGORATIVE NERVLNE ESSENCE
most powerful nutritive cordial ever introduced ; re
ACM to their normal condition all the secretion', on the Inte-
grity of which perfect healt depends.
Ibt a opecillo for dee*
Oty of all ldn and from Ita coataining moon Miler kyr
I• t pepsine end and ot soda, 1 prime_ NW/ lens.
WM to the nervosa and dyspeptic, vide Dr. Amain mow
M• ee Ile per honk, or four qoantilise m omiktrusess.—Defis
emes, moors. DAMWARTIN and Coila
A Lade -.
V& Weisel tree on nol o d

The STANFIELD COLLECTION.—The concluding
portion of this collection was disposed of on Thursday, at
the rooms of Messrs. Christie, Mown, and Woods, King-
street, Bt. James's. The whole of the collection produced
upwards of 12,11001.
The THANEA EMBAIVICPCZNT. —At the meeting of
the Metropolitan Board of Works yesterday, a report was
presented on the proposals of the Metropolitan District
Railway its to the eoaatruction of a solid embankment be.
tween the Temple and Blackfriars bridge. A provisional
agreement bad been entered into for the construction of a
solid embodiment with a 100 feet roadway thereon from
the Temple-gardens to Blackfriars-bridge, and the com-
ps., to construct their railway within the embankment ;
tie railway company to 0011163410011 their works for the
construction of the railway on the embankment from
Weenninster•bridge to the Temple on the lit of July next,
and the other works to be earned on simultsammely with
the works of the board. The railway company to &peat
40,0004 on the Ist of July next ; the payment of the
200,000 f. to be paid to the board to be spread over three
Tom Tlw
fic report was allopial, mid hue tenders will be
advatised .

This a seasonable book a book to be read in May
weather, and in retired Aral haunts. Mr. Barnes's
verse smacks wholly of the country, and is fragrant
with the breath of cows, the smell of newly-mown
gram, the perfumes of violets, the delicious odour
of lime blessoins. Pastoral poetry as written by
such poets as Pope, Shenstone, and Ambrose
Philips, is the most artificial poetry in the world.
It is, or was, a fashionable manufacture intended
for town livers, an Arcadia upon the boards, a bu-
colic for Ranelagh or Vauxhall_ In these poems,
if poems they may be called, we are fain to
be satisfied with pinchbeck instead of pure metal.
The composition rings false and good taste revolts
from it as a counterfeit. But this poor Brum-
magem stuff was endured and even premed by our
forefathers, who thought that the poet's work was
elegantly accomplished when he sang of amatory
shepherds and shepherdesses who made greater
fools of themselves in metre than they mak ever
have done in prom. Happily we have outgrown
this folly. We hew seat the lliesesee the
about, have abjured heathen gods and goddesses,
have ceased to sing of nymphs and zephyrs,
of Elysian slumbers and ambrosial beds, and
are content to take Nature as we find her.
This return to simplicity and truth has put new
life into poetry, and at the same time intensified
our enjoyment of it. Poets like Wordsworth and
Tennyson have proved how possible it is to describe
Nature without using a single conventional expres-
sion ; to utter poetic thoughts in the simplest and
yet the most musical language • to enlarge the do-
main of poetry without sacrificing veracity. Indeed,
notwithstanding the obscurity in which some living
poets delight, as if their aim were lees to please
'than to puzzle,—notwithstanding the frequent lack
of what Mr. Arnold calls sanity, it is, we think,
remarkable that, in an age overwrought and over-
civilised, the true principles of this divine art
should be better understood than at any earlier
period.
We suspect that if Mr. Barnes had lived and
sung a century ago be would have met with little
sympathy or appreciation. Dr. Johnson could have I
made nothing out of his poems in the Dorsetahire
dialect, and in all likelihood would have dubbed
the volume before us as "poor stuff." If he found
the diction of " Lycidas" hatch, the rhymes uncer-
tain, and the numbers impleming, it is scarcely
likely that he would have endured the curious
rhythm and quaint mannerism which marks
many of the poems before us. Mr. Barnes'
follows no rules, and has apparently no model.
Now and then xis verse has a faint echo of Mr.
Tennyson's, but in general there is no likeness in
these " Poems of Rural Life " to any other poems
with which we are acquainted. Sometimes, we
think, Mr. Barnes is merely grotesque when he
would fain be original, as, for instance, in the fol-
lowing piece, entitled

" GREEN."
Oar summer way to church did wind about
The cliff, where ivy on the ledge was green.
Our summer way to town did skirt the wood,
Where shining leaves, in tree and hedge, were green.
Our summer way to milking in the mead
Was on by brooks, where dutt'ring sedge was green.
Our homeward ways all gathered into one,
Where moss upon the rootstone's edge was green.
There smother poems of a similar kind in which
every alternate line ends with the same words, and
the effect is far from pleasing. While we are fault-
finding we may note also a careless repetition of
certain favourite epithets and phrases until the
ear grows weary. Many of the poems have
a refrain which is often harsh and mo-
notonous, and there are some adjectives not
very felicitous in themselves for which Mr. Barnes
shows a strange predilection. The word timber'd,
for example, occurs perpetually. Timber'd grove,
timber'd knolls, timber'd ridge, timber'd aide,
timber'd slope, and so on ad nauseant. Then again '
Mr. Barnes is inordinately fond of using com-
pound words, and so uses them as frequently to
break the swing and lilt of the verse. But these
are trifles after all, and only notable as showing
that while generally a poet, the writer is some-
times a defective artist.

There are more than a hundred poems in the
volume, and it is difficult among so many
to select one or two as peculiarly characteristic of
the author's genius. Moreover, although each
lyric is distinct there is a family connection be-
tween the poems which makes it disadvantageous
to separate any one from the group. The poetic
force which Mr. Barnes undoubtedly possesses may
be said rather to pervade the volume than to show
itself in a particular poem. To criticise a poet,
however, without giving some specimens of his
poetry would be unjust to him, and still more un-
just to our readers. Here then is a love lyric,
entitled

" WHITE AND BLUE."
My love is of comely height and straight,
And comely in all her ways and gait,
She shows in her face the rose's hue,
And her lids on her eyes are white on blue.
When Elemley club-men walked in May,
And folk came in clusters every way,
As soon as the sun dried up the dew,
And clouds in the sky were white cm blue,
She came by the down with tripping walk,
By daisies and shining banks of chalk,
And brooks with the crowfoot flow's to strew
The sky-tinted water, white on blue ;
She nodded her head as play'd the band,
She tapp'd with her foot se she did stand,
She danc'd in a reel, and wore all new
A skirt with a jacket, white and blue.
I singled her out from thin and stout,
From slender and stout I chose her out,
And what in the evening could I do
But give her my breast-knot white and blue!

We may remark, by the way, that Mr. Barnes
shows a singular love of colour, and perhaps, as in
the poems called " Season Tokens," and " Be-
tween Haymaking and Harvest," carries the fancy
to excess. More prettily is this taste shown in
" THE LOST LITTLE SWIM"
On summer nights, as day did gleam,
With waning light, from red to was,
And we did play above the as
That near our house-lawn rambled es,
Our little sister lightly flew
And akipp'd about, in all her pride
Of anow.white frock and rah of blue,
A shape that night was slow to hide—
Beside the brook, that trickled this
Among the pebbles, out and in.
When wind may blow at evening-tide,
Now here, now there, by mound and nook,
It may be on the key lime,
Or grey-bough'd withy by the brook,
Or on the apple-trees may fall,
Or on the elms beside tharove,
Or on the lofty tower's
On places where we used to rove—
Then ev'ry sound, in eery place,
Will call to mind her pretty tam
Where periwinkle's buds of blue,
By lilies' hollow ceps may wind,
What, then, can their two colours de,
But call our sister bask to mind f
She wore no black--she wore her white,
She wore no black—site wove her blue.
She never mourn'd anther's Ned,
For she has bees the first that allW,
From where our nimble feet did tread,
From stone to Moue, the water's bed.

Mr. Barnes's rural verse is never conk, but it
is very frequently playful, and he betrays, pest-like,
s keen appreciation for the charm of pretty girls,
The following " Burris, " is abaracteriabs, but
would, ifs Slunk, be Isspovei by the minion of

"THE SURPRIEE."
Ae there I left the road in May,
And took my way along s ground,
!found a glade with girls at play,
By leafy boughs close hemm'd around,
And tk ,ere with stores of harmless joy',
They plied their tongues in marry noise.
Thoogit little did they seem to fear
So queer a stranger might be near,
Tesh-hee ! Look here ! Huh ! ha! Look there !
And oh ! so playroom, oh: so fair. •
•
And one would dance as one would spring,
Or bob or bow with leering smiles,
And one would swing, or sit and sing,
Or sow a stitch or two at whiles
And one skipp'd on with downclet face,
All heedless, to my very place,
And there, in fright, with ono foot out,
Made one dead step and tnrn'd about.
Hoek ! kr, oh! oh ! ooh ! oo ! Look the: o ! •
And oh ! so playsome, oh ! so fair.
Away they easomer'd all, full speed,
•
By boughs that swung along their track
As rabbits out of wood at feed,
At sight of men all scamper back.
And one pnll'd on behind her heel,
A thread of cotton off her reel,
And oh ! to follow that whine ohm, •
I felt I fain could tea
Tea, tee, rusineet- Ist ?we tie* goes f
And oh ! ao plsysome, eb ! so fair.
There are several more of these short poems
which, did space permit, we old gladly
quote. As it is, we can but call attention to
such pieces as " Home from a Journey," " The
' Woodside Road," " The ('hild Lost," " Well-to-
Do," " Not far to Go," " Come and Meet Me,"
and " The Fireside Chairs." They show that the
writer possesses a genuine poetic feeling for country
life and for the simple homely ways of countrymen -
and women. Mr Barnes knows apparently the
limit of his powers. His strength of wing is not
great, and he attempts no adventurous flight. He
keeps near the ground while he sings, but this
kind of humility is often the best reurity against
failure. A grand epic poem will win high applause,
but will be more talked about than read, while the
song that describes with poetic insight our common
daily life may come home to the heart and prove a
joy for ever.

MUSIC.

THE HANDEL FESTIVAL.

The Metropolitan amateur members of the
Handel Festival Choir assembled in the large room of
Exeter-hall last night, when some of the choruses to be
performed at theapproaehing festival were rehearsed timbre
the direction of Mr. Costa, the conductor. The pieces
were selected from the miscellaneous programme of
the second festival day, June 17. The rehearse!,
which lasted more than two hones, commenced at
eight o'clock, by which time the orchestra and
the entire area of the great hall were completely
filled br the choristers, considerably more than 2,000, all
of whom were placed in numbered seats, so that all delay
and confusion were avoided. A small platform was raised
in the centre of the room, and from this Mr. Costs
directed the rehearsal with that energy and decision which
alone can govern the movement of such a vast body of
performers. The only accompaniment was that of a grand
pianoforte, at which Mr. coward presided ; and this was
merely used to maintain the connecting links of the occa-
sional instrumental symphonies in the choruses.
The effect of such a maw of choral sound
was not only very fine in itself, but also
served te exemplify the marvellous power and complete-
ness of Handers choral writing. With a recollection of the
similar rehearsal preparatory to the last Handel Festival
it is impossible not to be struck with the increased efficiency
and refinement of our amateur choristers, owing doubt-
less to the large recent spread of choral Institutions. With
such • splendid chorus as that which was rehearsed last
night, added, as it will be at the Festival, to the best London
professional choristers, the various choral bodies from
Yorkshire and the Midland counties and other provincial
quarters, with additions from most of nur cathedral
choirs, supported and re-enforced by an orchestra of pro-
portionate power, all guided by the energy and skill of
Mr. Costa, we may expect a musical result from the
forthcoming festival performances beyond that of
any past occasion. In other respects, too, all promises
well for this great musical demonstration —tickets are
being eo rapidly bought up as to give good aasu ranee of finan-
cial success ; and that all the business arrangements and
details will be well and thoroughly organised we may be
quite sure from their being in the skilled and practised
hands of the authorities of the Sacred Harmonic Society
and the Crystal Palace.

CRYSTLL PALACE.—MdIIe. Lucca, and other
artistes of the Royal Italian Opera, will sing at the opera
concert this afternoon. The great Wistaria meneatas—a
tree running 200 feet, covered with mauve blossoms, each
(nearly 12 inches long--is now in full beauty at Reekhl
adjoining the Palace), the lawn and garden of which will
be thrown open to visitors this afternoon from four until
half-past six.
A festival of parish choirs will be held at St.
Cross, near Winchester, on the hith inst. The choirs of
23 parishes are expected to attend the festival.