The Sun.
London, England, 1854-01-09 00:00:00

"the Harvest-flower of Life"—a thought thus ten-
derly articulated :
"The Corn Flower opens as the sheaves are rife,
Song is the twin of golden contemplation,
The Harvest-flower of Life."
"For emotional melody in its subtler and. more deli-
cate modulations we even prefer these " Corn
Flowers" to the ornate and gorgeous epic which
precedes them, and which Sirßulwer Lytton, not
altogether without reason, regards as, all things
considered, the masterpiece upon which he may
repose his hope of an enduring reputation. Several
of the poems comprised in the collection thus figura-
tively designated, "most" of them, indeed, in the
First Book, according to the printed announcement,
" have been recently composed and hitherto unpub-
lished," while others in the Second Book are now
given tothe world in like manner for the first time—
these latter " being chiefly of a more thoughtful cha-
racter." A familiar favourite, here and there, starts
forth from among these novelties to our recollec-
tion. As where we meet once more with the " rathe
violets" that bloomed first, if we remember rightly,
in one of the Annuals—or where in " Love and
Death," and in " The Language of the Eyes," we
recognise the primeval loveliness of the verse
through all that we cannot but regard as the
blurrs and blunderings of emendation Gratefully,
however, we accept in one of these emended poems
that exquisite epitome of human existence :
" Thus Love is best known
By the tears it has shed ;
And Death's surest sign
Is the smile of the dead."
It is remarkable among these effusions how re-
peatedly our author blends the utterance of. an
anguish the most poignant with images of the ut-
most tenderness. nits, in the very same produc-
tion, "Is it all Vanity ?" in which his soul cries
out in an agony—
" Seek thy lost Psyche, yearning Love, no more ! •
Love is but lust, if soul be only breath ;
Who would put forth one billow from the shore
If the great sea be—Death ?"
he can sigh thus plaintively over the ruggedness
of the track up the mountain of years—
" Out on this choice of unrewarded toil,
This upward path into the realm of snow !
Oh for one glimpse of the old happy soil
Fragrant with, flowers below I"
and can close his meditative verse with that thought
of sublime consolation—

" Longings obscure as for a native clime,
Flight from what is to live in what may bo,
God gave the soul. —Thy discontent with Time
Proves thine Eternity."

In a similar mood of philosophy, he draws wisdom
from " The Reperusal of Letters written in Youth"
—wisdom that ripens to this conclusion—
"Happy the man in whom with every year
New life is born, robaptised in the past—
In who each change doth but as growth appear ;
The loTeliest change, the last !
Full many a sun shall vanish from the skies,
And still the aloe show but leaves of thorn :
Leaf upon leaf, and thorn on thorn, arise,
And lo—the flower is born !"

It is not alone, however, by metaphors thus
daintily elaborated that Bulwer Lytton embellishes
the miscellaneous poems appended to his more am-
bitious composition : nor is it, again, by conceits as
happily expressed as that graceful stanza in " The
Loyalty of Love"—

" My heart is the dial ;
Thy looks are the sun :
I count but the moments
Thou shinest upon."
Corn Flowers, hardly less lavishly than the " pic-
tured urn" of Gray's Fancy, can pour forth—when
they list—

" Thoughts that breathe and words that burn." •
How consolatory and inspiriting, for example, is
every syllable of that " Address to the Soul in De-
spondency !" Is there not a resonant eloquence in
the following adjuration, for instance ?—an elo-
quence vibrating with the tenderness of Chris-
tianity :

" Why—counting the gain or the loss—
The badge of the temple assume ?
March on : if thy sign be the Cross,
Thy triumph must be at the Tomb."
Above all, are there not the loftiest truth, and
the most touching solemnity, and the most elevat-
ing solace in the lines here subjoined :
" The thunder that scatters the pest,
May be but a type of the whole ;
And storms which have darkened the breast,
May bring but its health to the soul.
" Can the earth where the harrow is driven,
The sheaf in the furrow foresee—
Or thou guess the harvest of heaven,
Where iron has entered in thee g"
Illustrations of a like kind might be multiplied,
but these are assuredly sufficient. Before closing our
allusions to these same perennial " Corn Flowers"—,
especial reference, however cursory or incidental,
should in all justice be made to one of the principal
charms of the collection. A classic idyll—" The
Dispute of the Poets"—a Dialogue on the Poetic
Character. In this remarkable effusion, the author
has gracefully typified the flower and the light of
intellect, thef/os and the lux of imagination. In the
ideal forms of Anthios and Lykegenes, he has em-
bodied those truths of which, in modern times,
Goethe and Schiller were the contrasting impersona-
tions. He has here perfected a poera tendingmarvel-
lously well to illuminate that notable dispute which,
says he in a footnote, "can never, perhaps,be settled"
—the argument as to whether the real aim of the
Poet should be to delight or to instruct. This be-
witching theme he has pursued through all the
mazes of a melodious discussion—now maintaining
that " Feeling" is the source from which
" wo cull
The moly of the Beautiful ;"
now that " Thought," and not Feeling, is
" the charm which from ambrosial domes
Draws the Immortal to Time's brazen towers,
When on the soul the gentle Thunderer comes--
Comes but in goldn showers."
Still—though the dispute alternates between the
Child on the one hand and the Priest on the other,
between that lovely verse which is, as it were, the
epitome of the poetic creed of Anthios—
" As COLOUR to the world, so song to life !"
and that, perhaps yet lovelier, which is the conden-
sation, so to speak, of the argument of Lykegenes—
" Song is to soul what unto life is LIGHT "-
Sir Bulwer Lytton, with a comprehensive and all-
embracing sympathy, • terminates the discussion in
favour not of ono, but of both the imaginary dis-
putants. His conclusion being that they are
" both divine"—Anthios and Lykegenes. In Vol.
IV. the six dramas are commenced with " The
Duchess de La Valliere," " The Lady of Lyons,"
and "Richelieu"—leaving " The Sea Captain,"
" Money," and " Not so Bad as We Seem," to
appear in that fifth volume which, we presume, will
complete this admirable edition of the Poetical and
Dramatic works of the most brilliant of all living
contributors to our national literature. What
sings he himself at the termination of the Poems
here finally collected and elaborated ?
" Calmly to time I leave these images
Of things experienced, suffered, felt, and seen ;
Fruits shed or tempest-torn from changeful trees,
Shells murmuring back the tides in distant seas—
Signs where a soul has been.
As for the form Thought takes—the rudest hill
Echoes denied to gardens back may give ' •
Life speaks in all the forms which Thought can fill ;
If Thought once born can perish not—here still
I think, and therefore live I"
Wherefore so may he appropriately close the lasi
volume of his writings with that solemn and touch.
ng Epigraph.

POST-OFFICE MaNTIILY DIRECTOR.

MESSRS. LETTS, ROYAL EXCHANGE.

This publication has now become an almost indis-
pensable requisite of every office, shop, and counting-
house throughout the country. It is issued monthly in
the form of a large sheet almanac, and, in addition to a
comprehensive diary for the month, with the despatch
and arrival of the principal foreign and colonial mails, it
contains all the information that can possibly be required
with regard to the Post-office—the rates of postage to
every part of the world, the hours of despatch from
London, as well as the hours of delivery ; the regulations
with regard to Parliamentary papers and proceedings,
and notices of objections to voters ; the regulations as
to money orders, registered letters, newspapers, books,
and a great amount of other valuable matter. With the
commencement of the piesent year an improvement has
been introduced into the sheet which the commercial
community will duly appreciate, viz., the number of
days averaged by all letters in their transit to and from
London. From a notice we learn that the February
edition will, exclusively, contain a list of all foreign
post towns, with the countries in which they are situate.
This also will be of great use to all who are engaged in
foreign correspondence. The accuracy of the whole con-
tents may no doubtisipubli be
shed ibmyptlhiceitply relied
ermissionuoponft, as the
hepos
"
Post-
master-General, m "Director" is
and edited by a gentleman connected
with the foreign department of the General Post-office,
and who, we imagine, has access to the very best in-
formation that can be obtained. The production does
infinite eredit,to Messrs. Letts, to whom the public is
excelof the mlenetchdaiarraicetse,nalmanacs,
; already
aeother annualindebted many

RELEASE FROM PRISON OF TIIE WELL-KNOWN DUGDALE
—On Saturday, at the Judges' Chambers, an application
was made for the discharge of the prisoner Dugdale,
who was committed for two years for selling indecent
books and immoral publications, on the ground of an
error in the conviction. Baron Martin, having heard
the arguments in support of the discharge, made an order
for the release of the prisoner.