The Sun.
London, England, 1865-10-02 00:00:00

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SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

THE SATURDAY REVIEW ON JENKINS IN EC-
STATICS !—On Wednesday last, and in the most
prominent and authoritative part of thO7imes, Jen-
kins displayed himself in his very highest form.
Ornithologists, in discussing the character of a bird's
feathers, which vary with the different times of the
year, always tell us that cock-sparrows look their
best in their spring plumage, which is their marriage
dress. So Jenkins is, of course, at his smartest at
a wedding. As with the bird, so with the man-
sparrow. He chirps and flutters and hops and
twitters and cocks his tail, and is the bodily pre-
sentment of all that is fussy, small, and impudent
at pairing time.
We shall not ask Jean-Jacques Rosseau
If birds confabulate or no ;
but if Mr. Bechstein or Mr. Gould had to translate
sparrow-gabble into the language of articulately-
speaking men, something like the column which de-
scribed Lord Granville's marriage would be the
result. Of course we owe some apology to a very
respectable nobleman for bringing him into juxta-
position with Jenkins. But the fault is not ours.
Very likely Earl Granville has much stronger rea-
sons than we have to complain of the enthusiasm
which indicted in such rhythmical prose his
epithalamium. But our concern is with the
Catullus of the occasion, not with Acme and
Septimius. And we are bound to say that,
like all great artists, the poet of the temple of
Hymen rose with the difficulties of his sub-
ject. There was every inducement for him to do
his best. He had fresh fields and pastures new to
prancelhis Pegasus upon. Hitherto, the fashionable
journals, the Morning Post and Court Journal, had
bounded his capacities ; but now, for the. first time,
the rich pastures of the Times were open for his
curvetting. The noble animal, and his rider, knew
that he was not only caracolling before the ladies,
but before the whole world. Jenkins had his oppor-
tunity, and he used it. At first sight, the marriage
of a quinquagenarian widower with a young lady in
her teens does not seem a promising subject for the
full chorus, with variations, of the Hymeneal strain.
But a bungler's difficulty is an artist's triumph.
Great in what he says, greater in what he does not
say, is the consummate and gifted master of speech.
His reticence is more eloquent than other folks'
utterance. His very silence speaks. And, above
all, his silence on the bridegroom's age is significant.
Then with what skill does the gifted writer—uncon-
sciously one slides into the tongue and manner of
Jenkins when inspired by his presence—turn the
unfavourable accidents of the occasion into a deli-
cate and refined manner of glorifying it. Appa-
rently, the marriage party was small, and, with
very good taste, those most concerned wished to
have but little fuss about it ; the church was not
the accredited fashionable temple of Hymen; there
were not half a dozen assistants, nor even a single
bishop, to get through the difficult job of making man
and wife. There was little sentiment, and no ro-
mance in the matter. Kensington Church, the vicar
of the parish, and some dingy weddings which had
preceded " the performance of the sentiment," are
not materials of a high mstlictic order. But here
the artist comes out. This gives him the oppor-
tunity of contrast ; his picture immediately acquires
the right balance of relief. The marriage was only
one " among the marriages celebrated yesterday
morning at the parish church of St. Mary's, Ken-
sington." It " was conducted from first to last
with as complete an absence of display as any of its
predecessors." In " the eye of the Church"—as the
thought
expanded—" the couple who
were kneeling
were neither more nor less than
now i s beautifully
the couple who had knelt there an hour before."
Alike, but oh ! how different. This is just the way
in which all great writers introduce their hem&