The Sun.
London, England, 1853-05-14 00:00:00

AYTOUN ON POETRY•

LECTURE THE THIRD. cle•
During the interval which elapsed between the f
livery of his second and third lectures, the toast °
/`
" Professor Aytoun . and the Poets"—proposed by
f
member of the House of Commons on the occasion °f
the banquet at Freemasons'-hall in commemorati°n°
the sixty-fourth anniversary of the Royal Literant,
Fund—was received by the assembled literati of V
don with well-merited acclamations. We would 116'%1
particularly notify this circumstance, because it afferu.:s
new evidence that the men of letters in our metroVoilt
are anything but indifferent to the presence arnen'tlio
them of the gifted author of the " Lays °f
Scottish Cavaliers." It indicates rather that they
01'
eager; where opportunity offers to accord him the.,,
come due to one of the most accomplished of the 10;4
writers of Scotland. Another attestation of that rt,1014.%
ness to hail his presence amongst us at this inornehiii
visible yesterday in that crowded apartment at 111_0
Rooms, in which the third of Professor Aytoun's s'oo
of lectures was delivered to perhaps the most mime': yet
and certainly the most attentive, audience he hasp
addressed. It should be remarked that a change
roe,
been made since last Monday in the position of therda
trum, if we may so call it, from which the Profese_4.
livers his dissertation. And we would particularly no
tion this alteration, because we look upon it as bYreby
means a judicious arrangement. The lecturer is the,,,o,
unfortunately too far removed from many of his 10'0
who, consequently, find it impossible to catch tbs!„o6l
of the discourse, losing some of the more 8111A4
and delicately-modulated of his intonations. fed to
Yesterday, the lecture was exclusively dedicaes
the consideration of the various merits and peelle of
of our Ballad Literature. Especial reference I"'tba
course, made—now to the National Ballad, now tA°llO
Pathetic Ballad, now to the Humorous Ballad, en" tios
majority of the specimens given by way o iillustrao
were selected from the rich store of the fine 01d,„b3rrir
of Bonnie Caledonia. If we might presume pee
nonce any opinion upon the subject, we should veil dii•
to acknowledge at once, that altogether we wer.Bsoo
appointed in ;the selection. Several of the sped too/
declaimed by Professor Aytoun—and declainleinseuf'
most admirably with the broad burr of the poor
tish dialect—appeared to us rather too long, Arlfi
too rugged, and rather too monotonous. ,„4:011
this we make bOld to confess was our irel„vpo;
in their regard; although we did .not fail t°,170,4
ciate, we hope and believe, the exquisite Pa7,oro
" Fair Ellen," or the yet more exquisite het cilia
"Kinmont Willie," or the noble and mostiote,h"te
trumpet-tones of the "Battle of Otterbourne."
Professor Aytoun was peculiarly anxious to disci° to
°
such intention on his part, he did nevertheless_ ails
to imply somewhat markedly the fault of ping' V
discoverable in the "Oriana" of Mr. Tennyrl'oter's
ourselves, we cannot but think that the 17
assumption, that the Poet Laureate " must" ha—, 10,1,
" Fair Ellen" before writing " Oriana," Nog .1:09;
gratuitous, Now, for our part, we can quite ,e" oefi
the idea as rational, that Mr. Tennyson hnu,, oa
once read, or even heard of, "Fair Ellert sr
long after " Oriana" was completed.
ject of the two ballads cannot be 7,000°,"
we conceive, as in any way identical, and the e,.0109"
of them is, to our thinking at least, altogether cnPstif
In " Oriana" the heroine has been killed inadveP; ob
by the lamenting lover himself. In "Fair Ells ofhat
has sacrificed her own life willingly to shield that
betrothed. The lover who bewails. his, love in ltla~
Ellen," therefore, speaks from the profound butrdt",
anguish of one who only recognises in the dean' 0'
departed her sublime and unselfish tendernessioe
lover who lifts up his voice and weeps over hisciA
"Oriana," on the contrary, does so with a grief
ened by remorse to absolute agony. and desP3;jg
sides, even the manner in which the two ball
d)vier
written must be viewed by the generality, 11 for
,e
ture, as dissimilar. "Fair Ellen" is rhymed' forte
ample, in triplets, with interrupting rhymes in wenotoo:
and eighth ; while " Oriana" has the musical 11:1-1)
of five recurring rhymes in each stan followe der
first, second, fourth, and fifth by the name of them, Jief
as though her shade were perpetually addressed 70•
lover in impassioned apostrophe or adjuration. ,
we are speaking of these two noble effusions jectrt
trasted by Professor Aytoun in the course of hi t
yesterday, we must.not omit an acknowledg Abeel.
we are decidedly among those who would yield
of preference to the modern over the ancient i-
peot't
writer. It is a meed of praise, to our mind,
due to the Poet Laureate. For, although our n°'ia V 4
is unstinted in regard to the pathos throbbing ~,o;',
metre of "Fair Ellen," particularly iii that .15,17, 044.
which her lover pines to be reposing by her siu;er
the green turf, with the " shroud drawn n° at
een," there is nothing, as far as we can see, oc",tef
to the woe and passion audible' in almost every
Oriana;" as, for example, in the following

" I cry aloud : none hear my cries,
Oriana.
Thou corned atween me and the skies,
Oriana.
I feel the tears of blood arise, .
Up from my heart unto my eyes,
Oriana.
Within thy heart my arrow lies,
()liana."

Or, again,---
" The bitter arrow wont aside,
The false,° fraialeneaLrow went aside,
Oriana :
The damned arrow glanced aside,
And pierced thy heart, my love, my bride'
Oriana !
Thy heart, my love, my life, my bride,
Oriana.
* * * * *
They should have stabb'd me where 11s/'
Oriana !
How could I rise and come away,
Orions?
How could I look upon the day ?
They should have stabb'd me where I lug,
Oriana—
They should have trod me into clay,
Oriana.* ** *
Oh/ breaking heart that will not break,
Oriana ;
Oh ! pale, Sale face so sweet and meek,
Oriana.
Thou smilest, but thou dost not speak,
And then the tears run down my elm'
Oriana
seek' 4
What wantest thou? whom dost thou ki
Oriana ?"
From the first syllable, in fact, to the last, `.` ce,o°l4Ai:olile
to us—has always been to us—a ma,stere 11°
the loveliest treasures of our ballad literatur:At t:sit°
ing, however, from this subject—one ever frnut,opp
with fascination—and referring to one of a „v,eirilabit,teto,
character, we must observe that it breathed n"
irony when Professor Aytoun simply ment'°"rellaili
lad of " wasli "—apologising for not ojort,ho.#
because it se obviously inferior to the ilviog ;e;
the productions of Mr. Wordsworth. ileeirreliii°;
who had never perused it, and who bore in 'ha her ore'
brance a painful knowledge of Betty FoY 31,1.0dcler 0°
boy, and other kindred monstrosities, to
the reflection of how horribly bad it mils loll°
programme of the third lecture appears ° 01:0°11
the printed syllabus : rl4,
"National Ballads—The Character and lateil solictSi;
of Scotland— Circumstances of their Traci' 01 •iy,
nervation—Their Simplicity, Power, Pathlo,stet'Apir
resqueness—lllustrations of National e°11.40/Pii,vl
Artificial Expression--Specimen of the 11 ist' • ei3.4 ,e 0
" The Battle of Otterbourne"—The th
Pae
'll°'
Specimen: " Fair Ellen," contrasted mr,ittrio''''Zotti,°ll,
" Oriana," and Wordsworth's " Ellen 11."
of "Marie Hamilton"—Picturesqueness °f eh fro'S
Ballads— The Fairy Mythology—Scottish ituratiosecg
Queen of Elphen' —Anecdotes, and Ill° 5,--1"i0010
Tamlane—The Ballad of " True Th°,ll/„3tt toor°
Diction of these Ballads —lmitations----''-49 10
of the Harlaw"—The Border Ballad----", 04° 0
Character—Specimen: " Kinniont was 0,1!.i
From this it will be perceived that the og.theie '1,7
enough in yesterday's dissertation. -Atio
attended the third lecture, we observed land, th,
tib
Duchess of Argyll, the Duchess of Cleve ofleghlorV'
of Montrose, the Earl and Countess of 11, col P.tiso
Countess of Wilton, Lord and LadY.lgl3iway, i&ost"ol
meny, Lord and Lady Blantyre, Lady thel,rl
Lady DynevoF, Lord and Lady J. 31anne„bhy, "cle0.„11'
Powis, Lady Emily Foley, Lady Willou,, :of
0, 1,1
Countess Mandeville, Countess of Jere3l;,l:;ess
r 44 r,
tina Villiers, Lady Agnes Duff, the t)!,.., olcliegjeb
field, Lady Harriet Filmer, Lady Borosui'Af
Hope, Lady Eastlake, Lady Antrobu
Lord Forrester, Lady Amherst, the -nr(!,nes,
the Hon. Mr. Rouse Mr. Monckton icon,"'e
and Mrs. Fraser Tytler, Mr. Evelyn gene f 313
guson, Mr. Ellis, Miss Williams, Mr''
Reed, and Mr.
0011
to thetoa
NOVA SCOTIA MINING COIIPAh • 1.• stb
submitted yesterday by Mr. Adam 31tuiricr` jeireirt;
Scotia Mining Company, regarding the viiitork r°
connected with his erroneous report 0° Aft. 3, richipti
mines proposed to be leased by them- „ens 1?„ Vole
timates that at first visit abundant specTlnd s 4 er'
were found strewn along the beachonue seenLt foto
which were subsequently nowhere t
_4"lereci Jeno. 4(
mentions a severe accident be encottutt'repres_:',"
wards, which, together with some uerege_!sity of
from interested parties, as to the ee'
in order
itso. 6rbogt
diate determination being come d'
mines, seems also to have ope%'ver, thel,
judgment. These explanations, w`
misled- Ad cletl to!,
allowed himself to be grievously en to 1°
;irt :19
are ue asLis
time,
whieh tthheeygeanreeraal
eteoeninepaoef
ietaherni.
0e0:t
conclusion that the rnisrepresent.ntl,o4rnaveos. A geo
entirely from a want of caution n,°_,:rov.
.t•7O
el 3.
AfuthMe
froln the '011,9‘,/ ss1;;,
meNet°inljgvEo
Paris on TuesdaONyx,:uwEvheealViiNrAellNilrdts-eLd'a-niPalhil "fiera:'111111
from the London agents (Messr• ,rl'_anYsi°hrerngh e'teeticinorttlii°
read and adopted, some modifies ray f
tatutes tll
time made in the original s
ts well e
0
balance-sheet, are to be re
Copies of the report of thadey
afgoernde'live'l t°
hoAldGeruslinFtindconomopnAtlibye.
_l9Ttlhi
ei
is from the Agua Fria Comp
.7
nd arific:„inifjo`piSlei
Gold -Mining Company have receive.l__o h3d.
u_bie
of March, stating that IVIr. Att v.%„ fay° Spieg.gca.
Agua Fria Mine, and formed vein tlittitri;eo
of it from the appearance of rein ,so
The us d
made along its course. , arrive ha
from the Gold-hill Mine bad notlist
from the communications with the
stopped by recent floods.",